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C!HM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  Institut  canadien  de  microreproductions  historiques 


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de  la  distortion  le  long  de  la  marge- 
intdrieure) 


L'Institut  a  microfilmd  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
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Cover  title  missing/ 

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1 

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6 

/5l.iQ 


THE  FRENCH 


IN  THE 


ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


BY 


T.  J.  CHAPMAN,  M.  A. 


CLBVELAND,  O. : 
W.  W,  WILLIAMS,  PUBLI8HKR. 


T  'S7 


H-HHI 


84190 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1887, 
By  T.J.  CHAPMAN, 
in  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washingt 


on. 


All  rights  reserved. 


TO  THE  TWO  GOOD  WOMEN 
WHO  LIVE  WITH  ME, 

MY    WIFE   AND   DAUGHTER, 

—ON  WHOM  BE  PEACE!— 
THIS  LITTLE  BOOK  IS  LQ  VINGL  Y  INSCRIBED. 


'm 


'? 


CONTENTS. 


PACB. 


Celoron's  Voyage  Down  the  Allegheny 9 

French  Movements  in  1753 23 

Fort  Le  Bceuf— Washington's  First  Public  Service 30 

Great  Meadows— Washington's  First  Campaign 47 

Br ADDOCK's  Defeat 60 

Destruction  of  Kittannp  ^    73 

The  Fall  of  Fort  Duquesne 87 

Fort  Pitt 100 

The  Siege  of  Fort  Pitt m 


The  Northern  Posts. 


"S 


Fort  Duquesne 1,2 

Weiser's  Mission  to  the  Ohio 147 

Post's  First  Visit  to  the  Western  Indians 158 

Post's  Second  Mission i7~ 

The  Stolen  Plate ,87 

Early  Virginia  Claims  in  Pennsylvania 197 


r 


ii 


tir 


I 

c 

1 
f 

1 
r 


PREFACE. 

A  number  of  the  following  sketches  have  already 
appeared  as  contributions  to  the  Magazine  of  American 
History  of  New  York,  and  the  Magazine  of  Western 
History  of  Cleveland.  These  sketches  have  been 
brought  together,  and  a  number  of  others  have  been 
added,  to  fill  out  the  story  of  the  French  occupation 
of  the  Allegheny  Valley.  We  think  they  will  be 
found  to  make  a  complete  and  consistent  history  of 
the  matter  in  hand. 

The  information  presented  in  this  little  book  has 
been  culled  from  many  sources.  It  is  the  only  mon- 
ograph on  the  subject  that  has  yet  been  published. 
The  original  sources  of  information  have  been  used  as 
far  as  possible,  and  in  all  cases  only  the  best  author- 
ities, as  an  inspection  of  our  abundant  foot-notes  and 
references  will  show. 


tl 


! 


8 


PREFACE. 


It  is  hoped  that  this  little  work  will  supply  a  gap 
in  our  local  annals,  and  that  it  will  be  received  in  the 
spirit  in  which  it  has  been  written.  We  have  grown 
to  be  a  great  nation,  and  the  end  is  not  yet.  It  is 
well  to  preserve  from  oblivion  the  history  of  our 
humble  beginnings,  that  future  generations  may  con- 
tinue to  revere  the  memory  of  the  brave  men  by 
whose  labors  and  sufferings  the  wilderness  was  re- 
deemed and  the  foundations   of  our  liberties  were 

laid. 

T.  J.  Chapman. 

Pittsburg,  Feb.  j,  1887, 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


jpply  a  gap 
eived  in  the 
bave  grown 
yet.  It  is 
ory  of  our 
s  may  con- 
^e  men  by 
Jss  was  re- 
irties  were 

HAPMAN. 


CELORON'S  VOYAGE  DOWN  THE 
ALLEGHENY. 

The  French  and  the  Engh'sh  were  botn  intent  on 
acquiring  possession  of  the  Ohio  valley.^  The  Indians 
formed  a  third  party  in  interest,  and  were  in  occu- 
pancy of  the  ground.  The  French  based  their  claim 
to  the  territory  on  the  voyage  of  La  Salle  in  1682  ; 
the  English,  on  the  discoveries  made  by  the  Cabots 
long  previously.  It  was  not  until  about  the  middle 
of  the  last  century,  however,  that  any  decided  steps 
were  taken  by  either  nation  to  occupy  the  coveted 
region,  t  In  the  year  1748,  a  number  of  gentlemen, 
mostly  English  colonists,  formed  themselves  into  an 
association,  with  a  view  to  making  settlements  west 
of  the  Alleghany  mountains,  and  carrying  on  trade 

*The  Allegheny  and  Ohio  rivers  were  generally  regarded  by  the  early 
explorers  as  one  si  earn.     The  French  called  it  La  Belle  Riviere. 

+As  early  as  17 16,  Governor  Spotswood,  of  Virginia,  set  out  on  an  ex- 
pedition towards  this  region.  "That  beautiful  unknown  land  held  out 
arms  of  welcome,  and  the  governor,  who  had  in  his  character  much  of  the 
spirit  of  the  hunter  and  adventurer,  resolved  to  go  and  explore  it."— John 
Esten  Cooke's  Virginia  p.  314.  The  governor,  however,  proceeded 
only  as  far  as  the  Shenandoah  valley. 


M 


lO 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


I  i 


with  the  natives.  The  leader  in  the  enterprise  was 
Thomas  Lee,  one  of  His  Majesty's  Council  in  Vir- 
ginia. The  association  was  called  "The  Ohio  Com- 
pany." Among  the  stockholders  were  Lawrence 
and  Augustine  Washington,  brothers  of  George 
Washington.  The  English  government  favored  the 
design  of  the  company,  and  a  tract  of  five  hundred 
thousand  acres  of  land  was  granted  it.  This  land 
lay  chiefly  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Ohio,  between  the 
Mononfjahela  and  the  Kenawha  rivers.  A  large 
quantity  of  goods  suitable  for  the  Indian  trad.j  was 
ordered  from  London  ;  and  it  was  determined  to  make 
roads,  erect  such  buildings  as  might  be  thought  desir- 
able, and  particularly  cultivate  a  good  understanding 
with  the  Indians.  Christopher  Gist,  a  borderer  of 
remarkable  energy,  intelligence,  and  courage,  was 
employed  to  traverse  the  region  lying  within  the  Ohio 
valley,  and  make  a  report  on  the  lands  in  the  com- 
pany's grant.  He  at  once  set  about  the  work,  and 
spent  several  months  in  this  arduous  duty.^*' 

The  French  at  this  time  also  determined  to  take  an 
advanced  step  in  the  same  direction.  They  had  settle- 
ments not  only  in  Canada,  but  in  Louisiana,  and  at 
various  point«  along  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries. 
Apart  from  other  considerations,  it  was  highly  desir- 

•  See  Sparks'  Writings  of  Washington,  Vol.  II.  Appendix  No.  VI. 


CELORON'S  voyage  down  the  ALLEGHENY. 


II 


"Lse  was 
in  Vir- 
io  Com- 
iwrence 
George 
red  the 
lundred 
lis  land 
•een  the 
\  large 
idu  was 
to  make 
it  desir- 
tanding 
lerer  of 
[e,  was 
le  Ohio 
e  com- 
rk,  and 

take  an 
1  settle- 
and  at 
utaries. 
Y  desir- 

lo.  VI. 


able  to  possess  the  Ohio  as  a  convenient  line  of 
communication  between  these  widely  separated  settle- 
ments. Accordingly  in  the  summer  of  the  year  1 749, 
Captain  Ccloron,  knight  of  the  Order  of  St.  Louis, 
was  despatched  by  Gallissoniere,  governor-general 
of  Canada,  to  take  constructive  possession  of  the 
Ohio  valley,  by  passing  down  the  river,  and  deposit- 
ing leaden  plates  suitably  engraved,  at  such  points 
as  he  might  think  proper,  as  was  the  custom  of  ex- 
plorers at  that  time.* 

Celoron  left  La  Chine,  near  Montreal,  on  the 
fifteenth  of  June,  1749.  He  had  a  detachment  con- 
sisting of  one  captain,  M.  de  Contrecoeur,  afterwards 
the  commandant  at  Fort  Duquesne — eight  subaltern 
officers,  six  cadets,  one  chaplain,  twenty  soldiers,  one 
hundred  and  eighty  Canadians,  and  about  thirty 
Indians.f 

Celoron  proceeded  by  water  up  the  St.  Lawrence 
and  through  the  great  lakes.  On  the  sixteenth  of 
July   he  reached  the  point  where   the  Chautauqua 

*  Celeron's  Journal  of  his  expedition  has  been  lately  given  to  the  public 
in  an  English  translation  published  in  the  Catholic  Historical  Researches, 
begining  with  the  number  for  October,  1885. 

+  The  first  intimation  the  English  seem  to  have  had  of  the  expedition 
was  in  a  letter  from  Captain  Marshall  to  Governor  Clinton,  dated  Albany, 
June  23,  1749.  He  says  that  a  certain  party  had  "  seen  an  army  of  near  a 
thousand  men  march  in  different  bodies  from  Canada,  this  day  three  weeks, 
steering  their  way  for  Belle  river." — Pennsylvania  Archives,  Vol.  II.  p.  29, 
This  was  perhaps  as  near  the  truth  as  could  be  expected  at  second  hand . 


aL,;?.^ 


12 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


creel-'  flows  into  Lake  Erie,  He  at  first  had  some 
thought  of  estabhshing  a  post  here,  but  upon  observ- 
ing the  situation  more  narrowly  he  concluded  that  it 
was  not  suitable.  '•  I  found  nothing  there  of  advan- 
tage,"  he  writes,  "  either  for  navigation  of  the  lake, 
or  for  the  situation  of  the  post ;  the  lake  is  so  shallow 
on  the  side  of  the  south,  that  ships  could  not  ap- 
proach the  portage  but  at  more  thpn  a  league's 
distance.  There  is  no  island  or  harbor  where  they 
could  be  moored  and  put  under  protection  ;  they 
must  needs  remain  at  anchor  and  have  boats  for 
unloading  them  ;  the  gales  of  wind  are  so  frequent 
there  that  I  think  they  would  be  in  danger." 

At  this  point  Celoron  left  the  lake,  and  turned  hii) 
course  toward  the  south.  At  dawn  of  the  seven- 
teenth of  July,  they  began  their  ascent  of  the  Chau- 
tauqua creek.  The  stream  was  not  navigable,  and 
the  labor  of  transporting  the  canoes,  provisions,  and 
so  forth,  was  extremely  arduous,  and  their  progress 
was  very  slow.  On  the  twenty-second  they  entered 
Lake  Chautauqua.  They  remained  at  the  lake  over 
the  twenty-third,  and  on  the  morning  of  the  twenty- 
fourth  they  entered  the  Conewango  creek.  This 
stream  connects  the  lake  with  the  Allegheny  river, 
and  flows  into  the  latter  at  '•he  town  of  Warren.  The 
water  in  the  creek  was  low,  and  the  greater  part  of 


CELORON'S  voyage  down  the  ALLEGHENY. 


13 


I 

i 


the  baggage  had  to  be  transported  by  hand.  Their 
progress  was  very  tedious.  The  Indians  who  Hved 
along  the  route  were  frightened,  and  fled  from  their 
cabins,  leaving  behind  them  "a  part  of  their  utensils, 
their  canoes,  and  even  their  provisions,  to  seek  the 
woods."  As  the  object  of  the  expedition  was  partly 
to  secure  the  friendship  and  allegiance  of  the  natives 
to  the  French  authority,  and  besides  they  might 
combine  in  considerable  force  and  embarrass  the  ex- 
pedition, it  was  determined  to  send  Lieutenant 
Joncaire*  and  five  Indians  of  the  party,  with  belts  of 
wampum,  "and  induce  them  to  take  courage,  that  their 
father  came  only  to  treat  with  them  of  good  things." 
So  great  were  the  diffijulties  of  the  passage  down 
the  Conewango,  that  it  was  not  until  noon  of  the 
twenty-ninth  of  July,  that  they  entered  the  Alle- 
gheny. Rowing  across  the  latter  stream,  they 
landed  on  the  southern  bank.  Here  they  resolved 
to  bury  the  first  of  the  leaden  plates.  By  some  in- 
advertence, the  first  plate  they  prepared  was  spoiled 

*  Chabert  de  Joncaire  was  a  half-breed,  the  son  of  a  I'Vench  officer  and 
a  Seneca  woman. — Parkman's  Montdihn  and  Wolfe,  Chap,  II.  He  was 
eloquent,  crafty,  and  brave,  and  fiRured  prominently  in  the  affairs  of  the 
French  in  the  Allegheny  valley.  The  elder  Joncaire,  the  father  of  Chabert, 
had  been  taken  prisoner  by  the  Indians  some  time  prior  to  the  year  1700. 
As  a  preliminary  torment,  a  chief  attempted  to  burn  the  captive's  finger  in 
his  pipe,  but  Joncaire  promptly  knocked  him  down.  This  display  of  spirit 
delighted  the  Indians,  and  they  spared  his  life,  and  adopted  him  into  their 
tribe.— Parkman's  Frontenac  and  New  France,  Chap.  XXI. 


fm 


wn 


14 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


m 


1 1 


I 


I 


by  inserting  the  name  of  the  Chautauqua  creek  instead 
of  the  Conewango.  This  plate  was  no  doubt  thrown 
aside  as  useless,  and  another  was  prepared.  The 
spoiled  plate  afterwards  fell  into  the  hands  of  some 
Senecas,  who  gave  it  to  Colonel  Johnson,  he  Indian 
agent.  They  represented  that  they  had  stolen  it 
from  Joncaire  ;  but  it  is  much  more  likely  they  found 
it  where  it  had  been  thrown  aside.*  A  leaden  plate 
was  buried  here  "at  the  foot  of  a  red  oak."  A  plate 
of  sheet  iron,  bearing  the  arms  of  the  French  king, 
was  also  affixed  to  a  tree.  This  leaden  plate  has 
never  been  found  ;  the  plate  of  rheet  iron  was  soon 
afterwards  torn  down  by  the  Indians. 

Leaving  this  point,  they  proceeded  the  same  day 
to  an  Indian  village  not  far  off,  named  Kanaouagon. 
As  Joncaire  had  been  sent  ahead  to  notify  the  in- 
habitants, they  were  on  the  watch  to  receive  the  ex- 
pedition. Celoron  treated  them  to  brandy  and 
tobacco,  and  in  return  they  gave  him  maize  and 
squashes.  A  few  miles  below  was  the  village  of  Cut 
Straw,  at  the  mouth  of  what  is  now  called  Broken- 
straw  creek.  Celoron  invited  the  chiefs  of  Kanaou- 
agon to  meet  him  there,  as  he  wished  to  address  the 
Indians  at  that  place.     The  next    day,  the  thirtieth, 

*  See  this  question  of  "The  Stolen  Plate  "  discussed  at  the  end  of  this 
Tolume. 


CELORON'S  voyage  down  the  ALLEGHENY.  15 


instead 
thrown 
The 
some 
Indian 
olen   it 
found 
1  plate 
\  plate 
king, 
Lte  has 
s  soon 

ic  day 
Liagon. 
the  in- 
lie  ex- 
y  and 
e  and 
of  Cut 
'oken- 
maou- 
ss  the 
itieth, 

1  of  this 


he  went  to  Cut  Straw.  Joncaire  had  preceded  him, 
and  had  prevailed  upon  the  people  of  the  village  to 
remain,  as  they  were  about  to  flee  to  the  woods. 
Upon  the  arrival  of  Celoron  the  Indians  presented 
him  with  two  belts  of  wampum  and  made  a  speech, 
in  which  they  professed  great  joy  at  his  arrival  among 
them  "  in  good  health."  Celoron  replied  to  this 
speech,  and  presented  them  with  three  belts  of  wam- 
f  pum,  in  order  to  "open  their  cars  "  that  they  might 
I  hear  well  what  he  had  to  say  on  the  part  of  their 
I  father,  the  governor-general  of  Canada.  He  assured 
them  of  the  kindness  and  good  will  of  the  French  ; 
I  cautioned  them  against  favoring  or  harboring  the 
i        English  among  them  ;  and  urged  them  to  drive  them 


away. 


Pav  serious  attention  to  the  messacrc  which 


I  send  you,"  said  he.  "  Listen  to  it  well ;  follow  it ; 
it  is  the  means  of  always  seeing  over  your  villages  a 
beautiful  and  serene  sky.  I  am  surprised, 'my  child- 
ren," he  continued,  "  to  see  raised  in  your  village  a 
cabin  destined  to  receive  English  traders.  If  you 
look  upon  yourselves  as  my  children,  you  will  not 
continue  this  work  ;  far  from  it,  you  will  destroy  it, 
and  will  no  longer  receive  the  English  at  your 
homes."  In  reply  the  Indians  promised  that  they 
would  not  suffer  the  English  among  them  any  more  ; 
"and  this  house,"  said  they,  "which    is   nearly  fin- 


i  i 


i6 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALI  EGHENY  VALLEY. 


ished,  will  serve  only  as  a  recreation  place  for  the 
youth." 

Celoron  remained  at  Cut  Straw  over  the  thirty-first 
of  July,  because  of  a  heavy  rain.  The  next  day  he 
proceeded  on  down  the  river.  Some  ten  miles  below 
he  came  to  a  village  of  about  a  dozen  cabins,  but  all 
the  people  except  one  man  had  fled.  The  following 
day,  at  a  larger  town  some  ten  or  twelve  miles  farther 
down  the  stream,  he  again  addressed  the  Indians  in 
the  same  strain  as  at  Cut  Straw.  There  was,  per- 
haps, a  considerable  gathering  of  natives  here,  as  he 
had  invited  the  inhabitants  of  several  villages  that  he 
had  passed  on  the  way,  to  meet  him  at  this  place, 
which  they  did. 

On  the  third  of  August  he  again  set  out,  and  went 
down  to  the  mouth  of  French  creek,  called  by  him 
the  River  aux  Bceufs,  where  was  a  Village  of  eight 
or  ten  cabins.  There  were  living  here  an  English 
trader,  whose  name  we  do  not  know,  and  an  English 
gunsmith,  John  Frazier,  a  person  whose  name  often 
appears  in  the  history  of  the  border.  The  Indians,  in 
the  mer  ting  of  the  previous  day,  had  complained  to 
Celoron  that  if  he  drove  the  English  away,  and  "  in 
particular  the  blacksmith,"  who  mended  their  guns 
and  hatchets,  they  feared  they  should  be  left  to  perish 
of  "  hunger  and  misery  on  the  Beautiful  river  ;  "  and 


t  II  !> 


CELORON'S  voyage  down  the  ALLEGHENY. 


17 


in 


they  begged  that  the  English,  at  least  "the  black- 
smith," might  be  allowed  to  remain  over  winter,  or 
until  they  could  go  hunting,  and  they  promised  that 
by  spring  the  English  sh.ould  all  retire.  Celoron  con- 
fesses that  their  representations  embarrassed  him  very 
much.  But  when  he  got  to  the  villag'j  at  the  mouth 
of  the  River  aux  Boeufs,  or,  as  it  was  afterwards 
called,  Le  Boeuf,  he  found  that  "  the  English,  as  well 
as  the  Indians,  had  gained  the  woods."  Only  five  or 
six  Indians  of  the  Iroquois  nation,  remained,  who 
fired  a  salute  of  welcome.  He  did  not  tarry  at  this 
place,  but  again  embarked,  and  proceeded  about 
seven  or  eight  miles  farther  on  his  way,  where  he 
stopped  for  the  night.  At  the  place  of  encampment 
was  a  large  rock,  the  face  of  which  bore  a  number  of 
figures,  "  rudely  enough  carved."  This  rock,  which 
is  known  as  the  "Indian  God,"  still  remains  as 
Celoron  found  it,  and  marks  the  site  of  his  encamp- 
ment. The  inscription  on  the  rock,  says  Schoolcraft, 
appears  distinctly  to  record,  in  symbols,  the  triumphs 
in  hunting  and  war.*  Here  Celoron  buried  the 
second  of  the  leaden  plates,  "  directly  opposite  a 
naked  mountain,"  and  near  this  carved  rock.  This 
plate  has  never  been  found. 


*  See  description  of  this  famous  rock,  with  illustrative  plate,  in  School- 
craft's Indian  Antiquities,  Part  IV.  p.  172. 


i8 


!i 


■  I  i 


f  1 


hi 


! 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


On  the  following  morning  it  was  determined  that 
Joncaire  should  precede  the  party  to  Attique,  a  con- 
siderable village  some  distance  down  the  river,  and 
assure  the  inhabitants  of  the  amicable  intentions  of 
the  expedition.  By  Attique  was  meant  the  town 
generally  called  by  the  English,  Kittanning.  f  It 
occupied  the  site  of  the  present  town  of  this  name, 
the  capital  of  Armstrong  county.  Joncaire  at  once 
set  out,  Celoron  followed  more  leisurely.  The 
latter  went  that  day  about  thirty-five  miles.  The 
next  day  they  started  pretty  early.  They  passed 
several  streams,  of  which  Celoron  makes  note,  and 
he  observes  that  on  the  higher  grounds  by  the  river 
were  villages  of  Loups  and  Iroquois  of  the  Five 
Nations.  They  encamped  that  day  at  an  early  hour, 
"  in  order  to  give  M.  de  Joncaire  time  to  reach  the 
village  of  Attique."  The  next  morning,  after  going 
eight  or  ten  miles,  they  arrived  at  Attique.  They 
found  Joncaire  awaiting  them  there,  but  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  town  had  fled.  The  place  contained 
twenty-two  cabins.  The  Indians  who  lived  here 
were  Loups.  A  chief  with  two  younrf  warriors  had 
tarried  to  observe  what  should  be  uone.  Seeing 
Joncaire    but    slenderly   accompanied,    he    had   ap- 

f  This  has  been  conclusively  shown  by  the  editor  of  the  Historical  He- 
searches,    See  Vol.  I.  pp.  26-30,  and  Vol.  II.  pp.  105-107. 


iiliiifiiiiiiiiiiiii 


CELORON'S  voyage  down  the  ALLEGHENY. 


19 


)d  that 
a  con- 
er,  and 
ons  of 
:)  town 
.(-     It 
name, 
t  once 
The 
.     The 
passed 
:e,  and 
-  river 
2  Five 
^  hour, 
:h  the 
going 
They 
nhabi- 
tained 
1  here 
rs  had 
Seeing 
d   ap- 


proached  him,  and  demanded  to  know  what  he 
wanted.  This  man  Joncaire  attempted  to  conciliate 
with  fair  speeches,  and  induced  him  to  carry  some 
belts  of  wampum  to  the  villages  fa'-cher  down  the 
river,  and  urge  the  people  to  remain  at  their  homos, 
and  not  run  away  upon  the  approach  of  the  expe- 
dition. If  the  chief  executed  his  mission,  he  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  eminently  successful, 

Celoron  remained  at  Attique  but  a  short  time,  and 
then  proceeded  on  his  way.  Some  hours  afterwards 
he  reached  Chartier's  town,  which  stood  on  the  right 
bank  of  the  Allegheny  not  far  below  the  site  of  the 
present  town  of  Frceport.  Here  he  found  six  Eng- 
lish soldiers,  as  he  calls  them,  more  probably  traders, 
with  fifty  horses  and  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
bales  of  furs,  on  their  way  to  the  east.  Chartier's 
town  was  a  well  known  place.  It  was  the  point  of 
departure  from  the  Allegheny  on  the  Kiskiminetas 
route  between  the  east  and  west.  The  town  had 
been  abandoned  for  some  years,  and  was  generally 
called  Chartier's  old  town.  Celoron  does  not  seem 
to  have  known  the  name,  and  terms  it  simply  "an 
old  village  of  the  Shawanese. "  He  warned  the  En- 
glish whom  he  found  here,  against  intruding  upon 
what  he  claimed  was  the  territory  of  the  French  king, 


\h\\ 


20 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


i'W 


li! 


and  by  them  sent  a  letter  to  the  governor  of  Penn- 
sylvania, at  Philadelphia.  This  letter  has  been  pre- 
served in  the  archives  of  the  state.*  Governor 
Hamilton  informs  the  assembly  that  he  had  received 
three  letters  from  one  signing  himself  "  Celoron," 
laying  claim  to  the  back  parts  of  the  colony  in  the 
name  of  the  French  king.  One  of  these  letters,  as 
we  have  just  seen,  was  written  at  Chartier's  town  ; 
one  was  written  the  next  day  at  a  village  which 
Celoron  calls  Written  Rock,  which  was  no  doubt 
Shannopin's  town,  which  stood  on  the  bank-  of  the 
Allegheny  river,  within  the  present  limits  of  the  city 
of  Pittsburg.  From  this  latter  village  the  Indians 
had  all  fled.  They  were  ruled,  says  Celoron,  by  an 
old  woman  "  who  looks  upon  herself  as  a  queen,  and 
is  entirely  devoted  to  the  English."  The  old  woman 
was  no  doubt  Queen  Aliquippa.  Here  he  found  six 
English  traders,  who  came  "all  trembling"  before 
him  when  he  landed.  He  gave  them  the  same  warn- 
ing as  the  others,  and  by  them  sent  a  letter  to  the 
governor.     Where  the  third  letter  was  written  we  do 

*  For  the  want  of  proper  information  on  the  subject,  our  local  antiquaries 
have  had  a  good  deal  of  difficulty  to  harmonize  the  date  of  this  letter, 
August  6,  wiiii  the  movements  of  Celoron  ;  but  in  the  light  of  Celoron's 
Jouinal  the  difficulty  has  vanished. 


w^. 


CELORON'S  voyage  down  the  ALLEGHENY. 


21 


not  know — most  likely  at  Logstown.*  The  traders  at 
Written  Hock  told  him  they  would  withdraw  ;  "  that 
they  knew  well  they  had  no  right  to  trade,  but  not 
having  encountered  any  obstacles  up  to  the  present, 
they  had  sought  to  gain  their  livelihood ;  and  the 
more  so,  as  the  Indians  had  attracted  them  thither, 
but  that  henceforward  they  would  not  return."  Cel- 
oron  describes  the  place  as  the  most  attractive  that 
he  had  yet  seen  on  the  Beautiful  river.  He  calls  it 
Written  Rock,  no  doubt  from  the  circumstance  that 
a  short  distance  below  he  passed  a  rock  on  which 
were  "certain  writings."  The  writings,  upon  inves- 
tigation, turned  out  to  be  only  some  English  names 
written  with  charcoal.  He  encamped  on  the  even- 
ing of  the  seventh  of  August  about  three  leagues 
below  the  forks  of  the  Ohio.  It  is  worthy  of  remark 
that  Celoron  makes  no  mention  of  the  Monongahela 
river ;  why  the  omission,  it  is  impossible  to  conceive. 
It  is  the  more  surprising,  as  the  Monongahela  was 
then,  even  more  than  at  present,  more  notice- 
able than  the  Allegheny,  to  one  looking  back  in  de- 


*  At  Logstown  also  he  summoned  the  English  traders  before  him,  and 
gave  them  the  same  warning  as  the  others.  He  adds,  "  I  wrote  to  the 
governor  of  Carolina  in  terms  similar  to  those  I  had  employed  in  writing 
to  the  governor  at  Philadelphia" — whether  he  means  just  then  or  before, 
we  cannot  say. 


22 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


scending  the  Ohio.*  The  next  day  early,  Celoron 
arrived  at  Chiningue,  or  Logstown,  on  the  right 
bank  of  the  Oliio,  eighteen  miles  below  the  village 
of  Written  Rock. 


•  "  Upon  looking  back  you  see  ai  some  distance  directly  up  the  Mononga- 
hela.  but  the  point  of  the  two  banks  only,  that  form  the  mouth  of  the 
Allegheny,  is  visible,  none  of  its  waters." — Arthur  Lee's  Journal,  De- 
cember 17,  1784. 


FRENCH   MOVEMENTS  IN  1 753- 


33 


FRENCH  MOVEMENTS  IN  1753. 


The  letter  written  by  Celoron  to  the  governor  of 
rcnnsylvania,  from  Chartier's  town,  has  been  pre- 
served.* It  is  dated  at  "an  ancient  village"  of  the 
Shawanese  on  the  Belle  river,  August  the  sixth — le 
sixieme  Aoiist.  In  his  letter,  Celoron  proceeds  to 
say  : 

Having  been  -ent  with  a  detachment  into  these  quarters  to  reconc"e 
among  themselves  certain  savage  nations,  who  are  ever  at  a  variance  on  ac- 
count of  the  war  just  terminated,  I  have  been  much  surprised  to  find  some 
traders  of  your  government  in  a  country  to  wliich  England  never  had  any 
pretensions.  •  •  •  •  Those  whom  I  just  fell  in  with,  and  by  whom  1  write 
you,  I  have  treated  with  all  mildness  possible,  although  I  would  have  been 
justified  in  treating  them  as  interlopers  and  men  without  design,  their  en- 
terprise being  contrary  to  the  preliminaries  of  peace  signed  five  months 
ago.  I  hope,  sir,  you  will  carefully  prohibit  for  the  future  this  trade,  which 
is  contrary  to  treaties ;  and  give  notice  to  your  traders  that  they  will  expose 
themselves  to  great  risks  in  returning  to  these  countries,  and  that  they 
must  impute  only  to  themselves  the  misfortunes  that  they  may  meet  with. 

However,  notwithstanding  Celeron's  warnings,  we 
find  that  George  Croghan,  a  famous  trader  with  the 

*Colonial  Records  of  Pennsylvania,  Vol.  V.  p.  425. 


24 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


Indians,  some  months  later  ventured  again  into  the 
forbidden  "countries."  In "  December,  1750,  he 
writes  to  Governor  Hamilton  from  Logstown,  that 
he  had  been  informed  by  some  Indians  there  that 
they  had  seen  Joncaire  at  an  Indian  town  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  up  the  river,  where  he  in- 
tended to  build  a  fort,  if  the  Indians  would  give  their 
consent.  The  place  was,  no  doubt,  at  the  mouth  of 
French  Creek,  "  He  has  nve  canoes  loaded  with 
goods,"  continues  Croghan,  "and  is  very  generous 
in  making  presents  to  all  the  chiefs  of  the  Indians 
that  he  meets  with." 

On  the  eighteenth  of  the  following  May,  Croghan 
again  arrived  at  Logstovvn.  He  was  accompanied  by 
Andrew  Montour,  a  half-breed,  who  was  widely 
known  on  the  border.  They  went  to  Logstown  to 
deliver  the  goods  presented  by  the  provincial  govern- 
ment to  the  Indians  on  the  Ohio.  Only  two  days 
afterwards  joncaire  and  another  Frenchman,  with 
forty  warriors  of  the  Six  Nations,  came  to  Logstown 
"from  the  heads  of  the  Ohio."  The  next  day  Jon- 
caire summoned  a  council  of  all  the  Indians  in  the 
place,  and  made  a  speech'to  them.  He  desired  to 
know  what  answer  they  had  to  give  to  the  speech  of 
Celoron  nearly  two  years  before.  "  Their  father,  the 
governor  of  Canada,"  Joncaire  assured  them,  "  de- 


FRENCH  MOVEMENTS  IN   1 753 


25 


sired  his  children  on  the  Ohio  to  turn  away  the  Eng- 
Hsh  traders  from  among  them,  and  to  discharge  them 
from  ever  coming  to  trade  there  again,  or  any  of  the 
branches,  on  pain  of  incurring  his  displeasure."  To 
this  speech  one  of  the  chiefs  made  instant  answer: 
"You  desire  we  may  turn  our  brothers,  the  English, 
away,"  said  he,  "and  not  suffer  them  to  trade  with 
us  again.  I  now  tell  you,  from  our  hearts,  we  will 
not,  for  we  ourselves  brought  them  here  to  trade  with 
us,  and  they  shall  live  among  us  as  long  as  there  is 
one  of  us  alive.  You  are  always  threatening  our 
brothers  what  you  will  do  to  them,  and  in  particular 
that  man,"  (pointing  to  Croghan)  ;  "  now  if  you  have 
anything  to  say  to  our  brothers,  tell  it  to  him,  if  you 
are  a  man,  as  you  Frenchmen  always  say  you  are, 
and  the  head  of  all  nations.  Our  brothers  are  the 
people  we  will  trade  with,  and  not  you."  A  few  days 
after  this  Croghan  had  a  conference  with  Joncaire,  in 
which  the  latter  desired  he  would  excuse  him,  and 
not  think  hard  of  the  speeches  he  made  to  the  Indians 
requesting  them  to  turn  the  English  traders  away, 
and  not  suffer  them  to  trade,  for  he  was  only  obeying 
his  orders,  although  he  was  sensible  which  way  the 
Indians  would  receive  them.  He  was  sure,  he  added, 
that  the  French  could  not  accomplish  their  design 
with  the  Six  Nations,  unless  it  could  be  done  by  force, 


26 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


and  this  he  beheved  would  be  found  to  be  as  difficult 
as  the  method  they  had  just  tried,  and  would  meet 
with  no  better  success. 

At  a  council  held  by  Croghan  with  the  Indians  on 
the  twenty-ninth  of  May,  the  speaker  of  the  Six  Na- 
tions said  : 

Now,  brothers,  we  have  been  considerinfi  what  the  French  mean  by 
their  behavior,  and  we  believe  they  want  to  cheat  us  out  of  our  country  ; 
but  we  will  stop  them.  And,  brother,  yon  must  help  us  ;  we  expect  that 
you  will  build  r.  strong  house  on  the  River  Ohio,  so  that  if  vve  should  be 
obliged  to  engage  in  a  war,  we  should  have  a  place  to  secure  our  wives  and 
children,  as  well  as  our  brothers  that  come  to  trade  with  us.  We  will  take 
two  months  to  consider  and  choose  out  a  place  fit  for  that  purpose,  and 
then  we  will  send  you  word.  Wc  hope,  brothers,  as  soon  as  you  receive 
our  message  you  will  order  such  house  to  be  built. 

Meanwhile  the  French  had  been  far  from  satisfied 
with  the  mere  formal  possession  of  the  country  as 
taken  by  Celoron.  They  at  first  confined  their 
efforts  to  cultivating  a  good  understanding  with  the 
natives  and  setting  them  against  the  English.  For 
this  purpose  no  better  man  could  have  been  found 
than  the  w"ly  Joncaire,  and  hence  we  find  his  pres- 
ence in  all  the  movements  of  those  times.  In  1752 
the  Marquis  Duquesne  succeeded  to  the  governr.'-- 
generalship  of  Canada,  and  under  his  rule  more  de- 
cided steps  were  taken.  He  determined  to  substan- 
tiate the  French  claims  to  the  Ohio  valley  by  taking 


■j.,< 


•S*SKefe«SfeSWK^SSl^jSaK& 


FRENCH  MOVEMENTS  IN   1 753- 


27 


fficult 
meet 

ins  on 
X  Na- 

mean  by 
country  ; 
pect  that 
.liould  be 
>vives  and 
:  will  take 
pose,  and 
)U  receive 

atisfied 
ntry  as 
1  their 
/ith  the 
I.  For 
1  found 
's  pres- 
[n  1752 
verno^'- 
lore  de- 
lubstan- 
'  taking 


actual  possession  of  it.  In  pursuance  of  this  design, 
in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1753,  a  force  of  three 
hundred  men,  under  the  command  of  Monsieur 
Babier,  was  sent  out  to  estabHsh  miHtary  posts  in  the 
disputed  region. 

It  was  at  first  decided  to  build  a  fortification  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Chautauqua  creek,  but  before  anything 
was  done  Monsieur  Morin  arrived  with  a  large  rein- 
forcement and  took  the  command.  This  officer  con- 
cluded to  abandon  the  position  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Chautauqua,  and  proceeded  along  the  lake  coast 
southwest  to  the  peninsula  (in  French,  prcsquc  islc)^ 
where  the  city  of  Erie  now  stands.  Here  they  built 
a  fort,  known  in  subsequent  history  as  Fort  Presqu' 
Isle.  This  fort  was  visited  by  Thomas  Bull,  an 
English  spy,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1759.  ^^^ 
thus  describes  it : 

The  fort  is  square  with  four  bastions,  square  log  work  ;  no  platform 
raised  yet,  so  that  they  can't  be  used  ;  only  a  small  platform  in  each  bas- 
tion for  a  sentinel  ;  no  guns  upon  the  walk,  but  four  pounders  in  one  of 
the  bastions  not  mounted  on  carriages.  The  wall  only  single  logs  ■  no 
bank  within  or  ditch  without ;  two  gates  of  one  equal  size,  about  ten  feet 
wide;  one  fronts  the  lake,  about  three  hundred  yards' distance,  the  other 
the  road  to  Le  Boeuf.  The  magazine  is  a  stone  house  covered  with  shin- 
gles, and  not  sunk  in  the  ground,  standing  in  the  right  bastion,  next  the 
lake,  going  to  Presqu'  Isle  from  Le  Boeuf.     The  other  houses  square  logs.* 

*  Colonial  Records,  Vol.  viii,  p.  312. 


Mi 


28 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


I  ; 

I  : 


I 

it 


i  ! 


k 


■  I 


About  fifteen  miles  south  of  Prcsqu'  Isle  they 
built  another  fort  on  the  site  of  the  present  town  of 
Waterford,  in  Erie  county,  which  they  named  Fort 
Le  Boeuf.  The  English  sometimes  called  it  BufflUo 
Fort.  A  road  was  opened  from  Presqu'  Isle  to  Le 
Boeuf.  Washinsfton  visited  Fort  Le  Boeuf  late  in  the 
year  1753,  and  thus  describes  it  in  his  journal : 

It  is  situated  on  the  south,  or  west,  fork  of  French  Creel<,  near  the  water, 
and  is  almost  surrounded  by  tlie  creek  and  a  small  branch  of  it,  which 
form  a  kind  of  island.  Four  houses  compose  the  sides.  The  bastions  are 
made  of  piles  driven  into  the  ground,  standing  more  than  twelve  feet 
above  it,  and  sharp  at  the  top,  with  port-holes  cut  for  cannon,  and  loop- 
holes for  the  small  arms  to  fire  through.  There  are  eight  six-pound  pieces 
mounted  in  each  bastion,  and  one  piece  of  four  pounds  before  the  gate. 
In  the  bastions  are  a  guard  house,  ch:ipel,  doctor's  lodging  and  the 
commander's  private  store,  round  which  are  laid  platforms  for  the  cannon 
and  men  to  stand  on.  There  are  several  barracks  without  the  fort  for  the 
soldiers'  dwellings,  covered  some  with  bark  and  some  with  boards,  made 
chiefly  of  logs.  There  are  also  several  other  houses,  such  as  stables, 
smiths'  shops,  etc. 

As  a  further  step  in  the  same  direction  the  French 
desired  to  build  another  fort  at  an  Indian  town  called 
Ganagarahare,  at  the  mouth  of  French  Creek,  the 
site  of  the  present  city  of  Franklin,  but  the  Indians 
were  jealous  of  them  and  long  refused  their  consent. 
As  early  as  1750,  as  we  have  just  seen  from  George 
Croghan's  letter  to  Governor  Hamilton,  Joncaire  was 
scheming  to  that  end.     The  fort  at  Le  Boeuf  being 


lis 


FRENCH  MOVEMENTS  IN   I  753- 


29 


they 


finished,  a  party  of  fifty  men  under  Monsieur  Bite 
were  sent  to  Ganagarahare  to  construct  the  desired 
work,  but  they  could  not  overcome  the  scruples  of 
the  Indians,  and  were  compelled  to  leave  the  work 
unperformed.  In  the  month  of  October,  the  French 
expedition,  after  leaving  a  small  garrison  in  the  two 
forts  they  had  built,  returned  to  Canada.  But  if  the 
Indians  would  not  permit  a  fort  to  be  built  at  that 
point,  the  French  effected  a  lodgment  there  never- 
theless, and  a  small  military  post  under  the  command 
of  the  ever  active  Joncaire  was  established  upon  the 
spot.  Such  was  the  posture  of  the  French  affairs  in 
the  Allegheny  valley  at  the  close  of  1753. 


mstMsm 


^-'jjSM'V ',"f  ^'■. 


giM^Wilii 


;  |! 


>  ii 


M 


30 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


\\\ 


FORT  LE  BCEUF. 


1 


r!^^ 


Hi 


i.i 


If' 


'! 


WASHINGTON  S  FIRST  PUBLIC  SERVICE. 

Late  in  the  year  1753,  Governor  Dinwiddle  of  Vir- 
ginia determined  to  send  an  envoy  into  the  Ohio 
valley  to  ascertain  the  precise  condition  of  affairs 
there.  He  had  learned  that  the  French  had  effected 
a  lodgment  in  the  valley,  a  region  to  which  the  Vir- 
ginians laid  claim.  The  governor  chose  for  his  mes- 
senger George  Washington,  a  youth  of  only  twenty- 
one  years,  yet  one  whose  genius,  fortitude,  and 
experience  in  woodcraft  pointed  out  as  peculiarly 
well  adapted  to  such  a  service.  Already  he  was  an 
adjutant-general  of  the  Virginia  soldiery,  and  had 
given  intimations  of  that  spirit  which  in  after  years 
was  to  raise  him  to  an  altitude  never  yet  approached 
by  any  other  rnan. 

In  his  **  Instructions"  Washington  was  directed  to 
proceed  to  Logstown,  and  there  inform  himself  as  to 
the  whereabouts  of  the  French.     Having  gained  this 


; 

: 


f 


i>  I 


FORT  LE  BGF.UF. 


31 


information,  he  was  to  proceed  to  the  French  posts, 
and  dehver  a  letter  from  the  governor  to  the  chief 
commanding  officer,  and  demand  an  answer  thereto. 
At  Logstown  he  was  to  address  himself  to  the  sachems 
of  the  Six  Nations  there,  acquainting  them  with  his 
orders,  and  desiring  of  them  a  sufficient  escort  for 
his  enterprise.  He  was  particularly  to  inquire  into 
the  numbers  and  force  of  the  French  on  the  Ohio, 
their  rcsourc.  s,  and  the  means  of  communication  be- 
tween the  different  points.  He  was  further  to  take 
care  to  be  truly  informed  what  forts  the  French  had 
erected,  and  where  ;  how  they  were  garrisoned  and 
appointed,  and  what  was  their  distance  from  each 
other,  and  from  Logstown  ;  and  from  the  best  infor- 
mation possible  he  was  to  learn  what  gave  occasion 
to  these  inroads  of  the  French  ;  how  they  were  likely 
to  be  supported,  and  what  were  their  pretensions. 

On  the  very  day  that  he  received  his  commission, 
Washington  set  out  on  his  arduous  journey.  The 
next  day  he  arrived  at  Fredericksburg,  where  he 
engaged  Jacob  Vanbraam  as  French  interpreter,  and 
with  him  proceeded  to  Alexandria,  where  he  provided 
such  things  as  he  thought  would  be  necessary.  From 
Alexandria  he  proceeded  to  Winchester,  where  he 
procured  baggage  horses,  and  then  took  the  road  to 
Wills  Creek,  where   he  arrived  on  the  fourteenth  of 


;    )! 


32 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


Ill 


)' 


November.  At  this  place  he  enf^^aged  that  redoubt- 
able backwoodsman,  Christopher  Gist,  to  act  as  guide 
to  the  expedition,  and  hired  four  other  men,  Barnaby 
Currin  and  John  McQuire,  Indian  traders,  and  Henry- 
Steward  and  William  Jenkins,  to  assist  in  the  expe- 
dition. With  this  small  party  of  six  men,  Washing- 
ton "  left  the  inhabitants  the  next  day,"  November  15. 

Already  a  great  deal  of  snow  had  fallen,  and  this, 
with  the  excessive  rain,  rendered  their  progress  so 
slow  that  they  did  not  reach  Frazier's  house,  at  the 
mouth  of  Turtle  Creek  on  the  Monongahela  river, 
till  Thursday,  the  twenty-second  of  November.  The 
streams  had  now  become  quite  impassable,  except  by 
causing  the  horses  to  swim  ;  hence  the  animals  were 
relieved  of  the  baggage,  which  was  sent  on  by  water 
in  a  canoe  that  they  borrowed  from  Frazier.  The 
canoe  was  put  in  charge  of  Currin  and  Steward  ;  the 
rest  of  the  party  set  forward  with  the  horses.  They 
had  appointed  to  meet  at  the  forks  of  the  Ohio,  about 
ten  miles  distant,  the  site  of  the  present  city  of  Pitts- 
burg. 

The  party  with  the  horses  arrived  at  the  rendezvous 
first.  While  awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  canoe, 
Washington  employed  his  leisure  in  making  a  careful 
observation  of  the  place.  He  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  land  in  the  fork  was  "  extremely  well  situated 


ill 


FORT  LE  BCEUF, 


33 


for  a  fort,"  as  it  had  command  of  both  rivers,  "  The 
land  at  the  point  is  twenty-five  feet  above  the  com- 
mon surface  of  the  water,"  he  writes  in  his  Journal, 
"and  a  considerable  bottom  of  flat,  well  timbered 
land  all  around  it  very  convenient  for  building."  Two 
miles  below  the  point,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Ohio 
river,  at  what  is  now  called  McKce's  Rocks,  lived 
Shingiss,  the  king  of  the  Delawares.  The  Ohio 
Company  had  determined  to  build  a  fort  here.  Wash- 
ington called  uDon  Shingiss,  and  invited  him  to  the 
council  at  Logstown.  The  chief  complied  with  the 
invitation.  While  here,  Washington  made  a  thorough 
examination  of  the  place  with  a  view  to  its  military 
importance.  He  concluded  that  it  was  greatly  in- 
ferior, "either  for  defense  or  advantage,"  to  the 
point.  "A  fort  at  the  fork,  "he  observes,  "  would  be 
equally  well  situated  on  the  Ohio,  and  have  the  entire 
command  of  the  Monongahela,  which  runs  up  our 
settlement,  and  is  extremely  well  designed  for  water 
carriage,  as  it  is  of  a  deep,  still  nature.  Besides,  a 
fort  at  the  fork  might  be  built  at  much  less  expense 
than  at  the  other  place.  Nature  has  well  contrived 
this  lower  place  for  water  defence,"  he  continues, 
"but  the  hill  whereon  it  must  stand,  being  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  in  length,  and  then  descending  gradually  on 
the  land  side,  will  render  it  difficult  and  very  expen- 


I 


34 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


' 


It    'i;! 
Ill 


h 


h  I 


I 


■li 


sive  to  make  a  sufficient  fortification  there.  The 
whole  flat  upon  the  hill  must  be  taken  in,  the  side 
next  the  descent  made  extremely  high,  or  else  the 
hill  itself  must  be  cut  away ;  otherwise,  the  enemy 
may  raise  batteries  within  that  distance  without  being 
exposed  to  a  single  shot  from  the  fort." 

Accompanied  by  Shingiss,  Washington  arrived  at 
Logstown  about  five  o'clock  in  the  evening,  Novem- 
ber 24.  Upon  inquiring  he  found  that  the  Half- 
King^  was  absent  at  his  hunting  cabin  on  Little  l^caver 
creek,  about  fifteen  miles  distant.  Washington  then 
at  once  called  upon  the  chief,  Monakatoocha.  By 
means  of  John  Davidson,  an  Indian  interpreter, 
whom  he  probably  found  at  Logstown,  as  he  is  not 
mentioned  before,  he  informed  the  chief  of  his  mis- 
sion, and  that  he  had  been  ordered  to  call  upon  the 
sachems  of  the  Six  Nations  and  acquaint  them  with 
it.  He  then  made  the  chief  a  present  of  a  string  of 
wampum  and  a  twist  of  tobacco,  and  desired  him  to 
send  for  the  Half-King  and  other  sachems,  which  he 
promised  to  do  in  the  morning.  Consequently, 
about  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  following 
day  the   Half-King  came  to   town.     Washington   at 

•  The  Half-King,  sometimes  called  Tanacliarison,  was  a  warm  friend  of 
the  P^nglish,  and,  if  he  had  lived,  would  no  doubt  have  proved  a  valuable 
ally  in  the  troubles  with  the  French.     He  died  October  4,  1754. 


FORT  LE   FUEUF. 


35 


once  went  up  and  invited  him  privately,  with  David- 
son, to  his  tent.  The  Half-Kin^  had  recently  made 
a  journey  to  the^French  commandant,  and  Washinjr. 
ton  desired  him  to  give  the  particulars  of  his  visit, 
and  an  account  of  the  ways  and  distance.  He  re- 
ported that  his  reception  by  the  French  commandant 
had  been  rather  stern.  In  his  speech  to  that  officer 
the  Half-King  said  :  "We  kindled  a  lire  a  long  time 
ago,  at  a  place  called  Montreal,  where  we  desired 
you  to  stay,  and  not  to  come  and  intrude  upon  our 
land.  I  now  desire  you  may  dispatch  to  that  place  ; 
for  be  it  known  to  you,  fathers,  that  this  is  our  land 
and  not  yours."  To  this  speech  the  French  officer 
replied  :  "  You  need  not  put  yourself  to  the  trouble 
of  speaking,  for  I  will  not  hear  you.  I  am  not  afraid 
of  flies  or  mosquitoes,  for  Indians  are  such  as  those ; 
I  tell  you,  that  down  that  rive^r  I  will  go,  and  build 
upon  it,  according  to  my  command.  If  the  river  was 
blocked  up,  I  have  forces  sufficient  to  burst  it  open 
and  tread  under  my  feet  all  that  stand  in  opposition, 
together  with  their  alliances ;  for  my  force  is  as  the 
sand  upon  the  seashore ;  therefore,  here  is  your 
wampum  ;  I  sling  it  at  you."  The  Half-King  in- 
formed Washington  that  the  nearest  and  most  level 
way  to  the  French  fort  was  now  impassable,  by  rea- 
son of  many  great  swamps  ;  that  he  would  be  obliged 


36 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEV. 


m 


^ 


m 


\k 


8i    I 


to  go  by  way  of  Venango,  and  that  he  would  not 
reach  the  nearest  fort  in  less  than  five  or  six  days' 
good  traveling.  Washington  was  very  eager  to  set 
forward ;  but  his  Indian  escort  could  not  get  off,  and 
it  was  the  thirtieth  of  the  month  when  he  finally  left 
Lofjstown  for  the  French  fort.  The  Half-Kinr^  at 
first  proposed  to  send  a  guard  cT  Mingoes,  Shawanese, 
and  Delawares,  in  order,  a.i  he  said,  "  that  our 
brothers  may  see  the  love  and  loyalty  we  bear  them  ;" 
but  this  design  was  afterward  changed,  and  Washing- 
ton set  off  under  a  convo)' of  only  three  cliicfs  and 
one  hunter.  "The  reason  they  gave,"  says  Wash- 
ington, "  for  not  sending  more,  after  what  had  been 
proposed  at  council,  was,  that  a  greater  number 
might  give  the  French  suspicion^  of  some  bad  design, 
and  cause  them  to  be  treated  rudely ;  but  I  rather 
think  they  could  not  get  their  hunters  in." 

However,  about  nine  o'clock  of  the  thirtieth,  he 
started  in  company  with  the  three  chiefs,  the  Half- 
King,  Jeskakake,  White  Thunder,  and  the  hunter. 
Their  way  lay  mainly  in  a  diagonal  line,  more  or  less 
direct,  through  the  present  counties  of  Butler  and 
Venango.  In  their  way  they  were  obliged  to  cross 
the  Connoquenessing,  Muddy  Creek,  Slippery  Rock 
Creek,  and  Sandy  Creek.  It  was  the  beginning  of 
December.     The  weather  was  extremely  rough,  and 


tii 


FORT  LE  BfEUF. 


37 


the  hardships  of  the  journey  must  have  been  very- 
great.  One  cannot  but  wonder  at  the  hardihood,  the 
resohition,  and  the  courage  of  a  younj]^  rnan  of  less 
than  tvvcnty-tvvo  years,  who  would  face  a  journey 
through  the  wilderness  at  such  a  season,  and  we  can 
find  an  equal  to  these  high  qualities  only  in  the  pru- 
dence, wisdom,  and  tact  which  characterized  his  deal- 
ings alike  with  the  cautious  Indian  and  the  wily 
Frenchman.  On  the  fourth  of  December  the  party 
arrived  at  Venango.  Washington  describes  it  as  "  an 
old  Indian  town,  situated  at  the  mouth  of  French 
Creek,  on  Ohio  ;  and  lies  near  north  about  sixty  miles 
from  the  Logstown,  but  more  than  seventy  the  way 
we  were  obliged  to  go." 

Here  Washington  met  Captain  Joncaire.  He 
found  him  and  two  other  French  officers  at  a  house 
upon  which  the  French  colors  were  flying.  This 
house  was  one  from  which  John  Frazier,  the  English 
trader  and  gunsmith,  had  fled  at  the  approach  of 
Celoron,  in  1749.  Washington  immediately  re- 
paired to  this  house  to  inquire  where  the  French 
commander  resided.  Joncaire  treated  him  very  affa- 
bly ;  told  him  that  he,  Joncaire,  had  command  of  the 
Ohio,  but  that  there  was  a  general  officer  at  the  near 
fort — Fort  Le  Boeuf — and  advised  him  to  apply  there 
or  an  answer  to  Governor  Dinwiddie's  liitter ;    and 


38 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


■ti: 


V 


ended  by  inviting  him  to  sup  with  him  and  his 
brother  officers.  "The  wine"  says  Washington, 
"  as  they  dosed  themselves  pretty  plentifully  with  it, 
soon  banished  the  restraint  which  at  first  appeared  in 
their  conversation,  and  gave  a  license  to  their  tongues 
to  reveal  their  sentiments  more  freely."  They  told 
him,  among  other  things,  that  it  was  their  absolute 
design  to  take  possession  of  the  Ohio,  and  they 
vowed  their  determination  to  do  it ;  for  though  they 
were  sensible  the  English  could  raise  two  men  to 
their  one,  yet  they  knew  the  motions  of  the  English 
were  too  slow  and  dilatory  to  prevent  any  enterprise 
that  the  French  might  undertake. 

The  next  day  it  rained  excessively,  and  Washing- 
ton was  prevented  from  resuming  his  journey.  Mean- 
time Joncaire  had  learned  that  the  Half-King  had 
come  to  the  town  in  Washington's  party,  and  pre- 
tended to  be  much  concerned  that  Washington  had 
not  made  free  to  bring  him  and  the  other  sachems  to 
the  house.  "  I  excused  it  in  the  best  manner  of 
which  I  was  capable,"  says  Washington,  "and  told 
him  I  did  not  think  their  company  agreeable,  as  I 
had  heard  him  say  a  good  deal  in  dispraise  of  Indians 
ii\  general.  But  another  motive  prevented  me  from 
bringing  them  into  his  company.  I  knew  that  he 
was  an  interpreter,  and  a  person  of   great  influence 


FORT  LE  BCEUF. 


39 


among  the  Indians,  and  had  lately  used  all  possible 
means  to  draw  then  over  to  his  interest,  therefore  I 
was  desirous  of  giving-  him  no  opportunity  that  could 
be  avoided."  However,  Joncaire  sent  for  the  chiefs, 
and  when  they  came  in  he  expressed  great  pleasure 
at  seeing  them.  He  wondered,  he  said,  how  they 
could  be  so  near  without  coming  to  visit  him.  He 
was  quite  effusive  over  them.  He  made  them 
several  trifling  iDresents  and  treated  them  so  abund- 
antly  with  fire-water  that  in  a  short  time  they  were  as 
drunk  as  possible,  in  spite  of  Washington's  advice. 

The  artifices  of  Joncaire  so  influenced  the  chiefs 
that  it  was  with  great  difficulty  Washington  could 
prevail  upon  them  to  proceed  with  him  to  the  fort, 
and  it  was  not  until  noon  of  the  seventh  that  he 
finally  induced  them  to  set  out.  Monsieur  La  Force, 
commissary  of  the  French  stores,  and  three  other  sol- 
diers, accompanied  the  party.  The  weather  continued 
extremely  unfavorable,  and  the  way  was  through 
"  mires  and  swamps,"  so  that  they  did  not  arrive  at 
Fort  Le  Boeuf  until  the  eleventh  of  December. 
Washington  at  once  waited  upon  the  commandant. 
The  officer  was  an  elderly  man,  a  knight  of  the  Order 
of  St.  Louis.  His  name  was  Legardeur  de  St. 
Pierre.     He  had  been   in   command   at  the  fort  but 


40 


THF  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


nj: 


'9' 
if 


a   few    days    when    Washington    arrived.     To   him 
Washington  delivered  his  commission  and  letter. 

As  the  snow  continued  to  increase  very  fast,  and 
the  horses  were  every  day  becoming  weaker  from 
want  of  proper  forage,  on  the  fourteenth  of  the  month 
Washington  sent  them  off  under  the  care  of  Currin 
and  two  others  to  Venango,  with  orders  to  await  there 
the  return  of  the  party,  if  there  should  be  a  prospect 
of  the  river's  freezing  ;  if  not,  then  to  proceed  toShan- 
nopin's  town,  at  the  forks  of  the  Ohio,  and  wait 
there  for  the  party,  who  v/ould  go  down  by  water. 
At  the  fort,  as  at  Venango,  every  scheme  was  resorted 
to  to  detain  the  Indians  and  prevent  them  from 
returning  with  Washington.  On  the  c\ening  of  the 
fourteenth,  Washington  received  an  answer  to  Gov- 
ernor Dinwiddie's  letter,  and  he  prepared  to  depart 
the  next  morning.  The  commandant  had  furnished 
him  with  canoes,  and  the  next  day  ordered  a  plentiful 
store  of  liquor,  provisions,  etc.,  to  be  put  on  board. 
He  appeared  extremely  complaisant,  "  though,"  says 
Washington,  "he  was  exerting  every  artifice  \.  hichhe 
could  invent  to  set  our  Indians  at  variance  with  us,  to 
prevent  their  going  until  after  our  departure ;  presents, 
rewards,  and  everything  which  could  be  sl"  'oted 
by  him  or  his  officers."  Washington  we';  .jSt. 
Pierre  and  remonstrated  with  him,  and  c,  u. plained 


1  ^  ^ 


FORT  LE  BOEUF. 


41 


mts, 


* 


of  ill-treatment ;  that  detaining  the  Indians,  since 
they  were  part  of  his  company,  was  detaining  him. 
St,  Pierre  protested  he  did  not  keep  them,  but  that 
he  was  ignorant  of  the  cause  of  their  delay.  The 
cause  was  not  difficult  to  learn — he  had  promised 
them  a  present  of  guns,  etc.,  if  they  would  wait  until 
the  next  morning.  As  the  Indians  were  very  desir- 
ous of  remaining,  Washington  consented,  on  a 
promise  that  nothing  should  hinder  them  in  the 
morning. 

The  next  day,  the  sixteenth,  the  French  renewed 
their  attempts  to  detain  the  Indians  still  longer  ;  but 
Washington  held  the  Half-King  so  closely  to  his 
word  that  he  at  length  set  off  as  he  had  promised. 
The  passage  down  the  creek  was  very  tedious  and 
fatiguing.  A  number  of  times  the  canoes  came  near 
being  staved  against  the  rocks,  and  frequently  all  hands 
were  obliged  to  get  out  and  remain  in  the  water  half 
an  hour  or  more,  getting  over  the  shoals.  Such  had 
been  the  difficulties  of  the  voyage  that  they  did  not 
reach  Venango  until  the  twenty-second.  Here  they 
found  the  horses  waiting  for  them. 

The  next  day  Washington  resumed  his  journey. 
"  When  I  got  things  ready  to  set  off,"  he  says,  *'  I 
sent  for  the  Half- King  to  know  whether  he  intended 
to  go  with  us  or  by  water.     He  told  me  that  White 


42 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


!  * 


Thunder  had  hurt  himself  much,  and  was  sick,  and 
unable  to  walk  ;  therefore  he  was  obliged  to  carry 
him  down  in  a  canoe.  As  I  found  he  intended  to 
stay  here  a  day  or  two,  and  knew  that  Monsieur 
Joncaire  would  employ  every  scheme  to  set  him 
against  the  English,  as  he  had  before  done,  I  told 
him  I  hoped  he  would  guard  against  his  flattery,  and 
let  no  fine  speeches  influence  him  in  their  favor.  He 
desired  I  might  not  be  concerned,  for  he  knew  the 
French  too  well  for  anything  to  engage  him  in  their 
favor  ;  and  that  though  he  could  not  go  down  with  us, 
he  yet  would  endeavor  to  meet  at  the  forks  with  Joseph 
Campbell,  to  deliver  a  speech  for  me  to  carry  to  his 
honor  the  governor.  He  told  me  he  would  order  the 
Young  Hunter  to  attend  us,  and  get  provisions,  etc., 
if  wanted. 

"Our  horses  were  now  so  weak  and  feeble,  and 
the  baggage  so  heavy  (as  we  were  obliged  to  provide 
all  the  necessaries  which  the  journey  would  require), 
that  we  doubted  much  their  performing  it.  Therefore 
myself  and  the  others,  except  the  drivers,  who  were 
obliged  to  ride,  gave  up  our  horses  for  packs,  to 
assist  along  with  the  baggage.  I  put  myself  in  an 
Indian  walking  dress,  and  continued  with  them  three 
days,  until  I  found  there  was  no  probability  of  their 
getting  home  in  reasonable  time.  The  horses  became 


I 


FORT  LE  BCEUF. 


43 


nd 
fry 
to 
eur 
iiim 
told 
and 
He 
\i  the 
their 
thus, 
oseph 
to  his 
er  the 
,  etc., 


c,  and 

rovide 

.■■--' 

i^uire), 

:refore 

o  were 

:ks,  to 

.; 

f  in  an 

' 

a  three 

.  i 

)f  their 

Ibecame 

i 

less  able  to  travel  every  day  ;  the  cold  increased  very 
fast ;  and  the  roads  were  becoming  much  worse  by  a 
deep  snow,  continually  freezing;  therefore,  as  I  was 
uneasy  to  get  back,  to  make  report  of  my  proceed- 
ings to  his  honor,  the  governor,  I  determined  to 
prosecute  my  journey  the  nearest  way  through  the 
woods,  on  foot. 

"Accordingly  I  left  Mr.  Vanbraam  in  charge  of 
our  baggage,  with  money  and  directions  to  provide 
necessaries  from  place  to   place   for  themselves  and 

horses,  and  to  make  the  most  convenient  dispatch  in 
traveling. 

"  I  took  my  necessary  papers,  pulled  off  my 
clothes,  and  tied  myself  up  in  a  watch  coat.  Then 
with  gun  in  hand,  and  pack  on  my  back,  in  which 
were  my  papers  and  provisions,  I  set  out  with  Mr. 
Gist,  fitted  in  the  same  manner,  on*  Wednesday,  the 
twenty-sixth.  The  day  following,  just  after  we  had 
passed  a  place  called  Murdering  town  (where  we 
intended  to  quit  the  path  and  steer  across  the  country 
for  Shannopin's  town),  we  fell  in  with  a  party  of 
French  Indians,  who  had  laid  in  wait  lor  us.  One  of 
them  fired  at  Mr.  Gist  or  me,  not  fifteen  steps  off,  but 
fortunately    missed.*     We    took    this    fellow    into 

*  The  scene  of  this  attempt  upon  the  life  of  Washington  is  believed  to 
have  been  in  the  present  Forward  township,  in  Butler  county,  Pennsylvania. 


m 


li 


>.i, 


:'i  ■■ 


44 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


custody,  and  kept  him  until  about  nine  o'clock  at 
night,  then  let  him  go,  and  walked  all  the  remaining 
part  of  the  night  without  making  any  stops,  that  we 
might  get  the  start,  so  far  as  to  be  out  of  the  reach  of 
their  pursuit  the  next  day,  since  we  were  well  assured 
they   would    follow    our   tracks   as    soon   as    it  was 
light.     The  next  day  we  continued   traveling  until 
quite  dark,  and   got  to   the   river  about  two   miles 
above  Shannopin's.      We  expected   to   have   found 
the  river   frozen,   but    it   was    not,   only  about    fifty 
yards   from   each   shore.     The   ice    I   suppose    had 
broken  up  above,  for  it  was  driving  in  vast  quantities, 
"There  was  no  way  for  getting  over  but  on  a  raft, 
which  we   set   about   with    but   one   poor   hatchet, 
and  finished  just  after  sunsetting.     This  was  a  whole 
day's  work ;  we  next  got  it  launched,  then  went  on 
board  of  it  and  set  off,  but  before  we  were  half-way 
over  we  were  jammed  in  the  ice  in  such  a  manner  that 
we  expected  every  moment  our  raft  to  sink  and  our- 
selves to  perish.     I  put  out  my  setting  pole   to  try 
and  stop  the  raft  that  the  ice  might  pass  by,  when 


a 


Mr.  Gist,  v/ho  also  kept  a  journal  of  the  trip,  says  that  Murdering  town 
was  "  on  the  South-east  Fork  of  Beaver  creek,"  by  which  he  most  likely 
means  the  Connoquenessing.  "Traces  of  an  Indian  village  were  plainly 
visible  upon  this  stream  in  the  vicinity  of  Buhl's  Mill,  Forward  township, 
when  the  country  was  settled,  and  many  years  later." — History  of  Butler 
County,  p.  14.  note. 


^- 


rii  Jf^'ti      i  S 


FORT  LE  BCEUF. 


45 


ng  town 
)st  likely 
e  plainly 
ownship. 
Butler 


i 


the  rapidity  of  the  stream  threw  it  with  such 
violence  against  the  pole  that  it  jerked  me  out  into 
ten  feet  water ;  but  I  fortunately  saved  myself  by 
catching  hold  of  one  of  the  raft  logs.  Notwithstand- 
ing all  our  efforts,  we  could  not  get  to  either  shore, 
but  were  obliged,  as  we  were  near  an  island,  to  quit 
our  raft  and  make  to  it.  The  cold  was  so  extremely 
severe  that  Mr.  Gist  had  all  his  fingers  and  some  of 
his  toes  frozen,  and  the  water  was  shut  up  so  hard 
that  we  found  no  difficulty  in  getting  off  the  island 
on  the  ice  in  the  morning,  and  went  to  Mr.  Frazier's." 

The  island  upon  which  Washington  and  Mr.  Gist 
spent  that  cold  winter  night  is  thought  to  have  been 
a  small  island  afterward  called  Wainwright'-J  island. 
Mr.  N.  B.  Craig,  the  historian  of  Pittsburg,  investi- 
gated this  point,  and  satisfied  himself  that  it  was  not 
Herr's  island,  as  some  have  thought.  VVainwright's 
island  lay  near  the  left  bank  of  the  river,  and  the 
narrow  channel  between  that  and  the  shore  might 
freeze  in  one  night;  but  the  wider  passage  between 
Herr's  island  and  the  left  bank  of  the  river  could 
scarcely  freeze  over  in  the  manner  described  in  one 
night.  Wainwright's  island  has  long  since  entirely 
disappeared. 

Washington  was  detained  for  some  <-'me  at   Mr. 
Frazier's,  while  waiting  for  horses  with  which  to  con- 


an 


46 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


11 


tinue  his  journey  ;  in  the  meantime  he  went  up  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Youghiogheny,  where  McKeesport 
now  stands,  to  visit  Aliquippa,  the  Indian  queen, 
who  had  removed  from  her  former  residence  at  Shan- 
nopin's  town.  The  old  lady  expressed  great  concern 
that  Washington  had  passed  her  without  calling  on 
his  way  to  the  Ohio.  Washington  placated  her  with 
a  present  of  a  watch-coat  and  a  bottle  of  rum,  "  which 
latter,"  says  he,  "  was  thought  much  the  better  pres- 
ent of  the  two." 

On  Thursday,  the  first  day  of  January,  1754,  a 
year  ever  since  memorable  as  that  in  which  began 
the  long  and  bloody  French  and  Indian  war,  Wash- 
ington left  Frazier's  house,  and  on  the  seventh  he 
arrived  at  Wills  Creek,  after  an  absence  of  fifty-three 
days  in  the  wilderness.  The  weather  throughout  had 
been  bad,  and  the  toils,  dangers,  and  hardships  of 
the  expedition  had  been  almost  inconceivable.  On 
the  sixteenth  of  January  he  arrived  at  WilHurnsburg, 
the  capital  of  Virginia,  and  waited  upon  the  gov- 
ernor, with  the  letter  from  the  French  commandant, 
and  to  give  an  account  of  his  journey. 


■•  ""  "^     '■   i  lii'iiiiiititittiWIiiiiiiiiii 


I 


f 


a 


GREAT    MEADOWS. 


47 


GREAT  MEADOWS. 


WASHINGTON  S  FIRST  CAMPAIGN. 


gOV- 


At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1754,  the  Virginia 
authorities  determined  to  take  possession  of  the  point 
of  land  at  the  confluence  of  the  Allegheny  and  Mo- 
nongahela  rivers.  Accordingly,  two  companies  of 
one  hundred  men  each  were  raised,  and  put  under 
the  command  of  Major  George  Washington.  Of  one 
of  the  companies  William  Trent  was  captain.  On 
the  meeting  of  the  Virginia  Assembly,  a  large  sum 
was  voted  for  the  defense  of  the  colony,  and  the  force 
increased  to  six  companies.  Colonel  Joshua  Fry 
was  put  in  the  chief  command,  and  Washington,  with 
the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel,  was  made  second. 
About  the  middle  of  February,  an  advance  party  of 
Trent's  men,  forty-one  in  number,  had  gone  forward, 
and  were  busily  engaged  in  building  a  fort  on  the  site 
of  the  present  city  of  Pittsburg,  when  on  the  seven- 
teenth   of     April,  their   operations    were    suddenly 


^iiis^J^iuMam 


r 


ll 


1 


i> 


48 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


i( 


checked  by  the  descent  of  a  large  force  of  French 
and  Indians  from  Venango.  They  were  reported  to 
be  a  thousand  strong.  Their  commander  was  Captain 
de  ContreccEur.  Though  their  numbers  were  not  so 
great  as  reported,  it  was  still  a  formidable  force,  and 
outnumbered  the  Virginia  detachment  nearly  twenty 
to  one.  De  Contrecceur  at  once  sent  in  an  order  for 
the  surrender  of  the  place.  As  it  happened,  the 
superior  officers  of  the  company  were  absent  at  the 
time,  and  the  command  for  the  moment  devolved 
upon  the  ensign,  whose  name  was  Ward.  He  was 
allowed  but  one  hour  in  which  to  consider  de  Con- 
treccEur's  demand.  He  begged  for  time  to  confer 
with  his  superiors,  but  the  request  was  refused.  The 
English,  the  French  officer  claimed,  had  no  authority 
in  the  valley  of  the  Ohio,  and  consequently  it  could 
not  be  necessary  to  consult  about  it.  They  were 
clearly  intruders,  and  must  depart  at  once.  As  all 
thought  of  resistance  to  such  numbers  was  out  of  the 
question,  Ensign  Ward  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  de- 
liver up  the  unfinished  fortification,  and  betake  him- 
self elsewhere.  The  French  were  not  otherwise  severe 
in  their  terms,  and  Ward  was  allowed  to  bring  away 
all  his  :  ^en,  arms,  and  working  tools.*  The  French 
at  once  completed  the  fort  on  a  larger  scale  than  the 

*  Sparks'  Writings  of  Washington,  Vol.  IL  p.  12. 


r-:^ 


GREAT   MEADOWS. 


49 


English  had  contemplated,  and  called   it  Fort  Du- 
quesne,  in  compliment  to  the  governor  of  Canada. 

Meantime  Washington  was  on  his  way  westward 
with  two  companies  of  about  seventy-five  men  each. 
He  arrived  at  Wills  Creek  on  the  twentieth  of  April. 
On  the  twenty-fifth,  he  was  met  there  by  Ensign 
Ward,  who  recounted  the  affair  at  the  forks  of  the 
Ohio.  Upon  this  intelligence,  he  resolved  not  to 
proceed  to  the  forks  until  sufficient  reinforcements 
should  be  received,  but  to  direct  his  course  to  the 
Monongahela,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Redstone.  There 
were  at  that  place  storehouses  that  had  been  erected 
by  the  Ohio  Company,  and  there  he  could  deposit 
his  munitions  and  supplies.  Besides,  from  that  point 
there  would  be  water-carriage  for  the  heavy  artillery, 
whenever  it  should  be  determined  to  proceed  to  the 
forks  of  the  Ohio.  An  additional  reason  was,  that 
it  was  desirable  to  keep  the  troops  employed,  in 
order  to  prevent  the  demoralization  that  would  ensue 
from  an  inactive  camp  life,  rnd  to  encourage  the 
Indians  in  their  allegiance.*  Washington  had  re- 
ceived some  small  accessions  to  his  force,  and  had 
now  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  men.  The  work 
of  making  a  road  through  the  wilderness  was  exceed- 
ingly difficult,  and  his  progress  was  slow  and  tedious. 

•Sparks,  Vol.  II.  p.  15,  note. 


mmmm 


5° 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


(I      I 


II 

III  >' 


4 


If 


At  the  Youghiogheny  he  received  word  from  his  old 
friend,  the  Half-King,  who  had  been  his  companion 
the  p  Jing  winter  in  his  trip  to  Fort  Le  Boeuf, 
that  a  party  of  French  were  on  the  march  to  meet 
him.  Washington  proceeded  immediately  to  a  fav- 
orable spot  called  the  Great  Meadows,  where  he 
threw  up  a  breastwork,  and  put  himself  in  the  best 
possible  state  of  defence. 

The  Great  Meadows  was  a  narrow  glade  beyond 
the  Great  Crossing  of  the  Youghiogheny,  and  about 
four  miles  from  the  eastern  base  of  the  Laurel  Hill. 
Was^'  "-ton  at  once  sent  out  scouts,  but  they  re- 
turn«„^  .thout  having  seen  any  signs  of  the  enemy. 
Mr.  Gist,  ho  •'"'^er,  now  made  his  appearance,  and 
reported  that  a  party  of  French  had  been  at  his 
house,  thirteen  miles  distant,  the  day  before,  and 
that  he  had  just  seen  the  tracks  of  the  enemy  within 
five  miles  of  the  camp.*  This  was  in  the  morning 
of  the  twenty-seventh  of  May.  The  following  night 
Washington  received  word  from  the  Half-King,  who 
was  encamped  with  a  number  of  warriors  about 
six  miles  off,  that  the  enemy  was  close  at  hand. 
Washington  with  forty  men  immediately  set  out  for 
the  camp  of  the  HalfKi.ig.  The  night  was  ex- 
tremely dark.     The   rain  poured   down  in  torrents. 

*  Sparks,  Vol.  II.  p.  25. 


GREAT    MEADOWS. 


SI 


The  path  was  obscure  pnd  difficult.      "We  were  fre- 
quently tumbling  over   one  another,"  says  Washing- 
ton, "and  often  so  lost,  that  fifteen  or  twenty  min- 
utes* search  would  not  find  the  path  again."     It  was 
daylight   before   Washington    had   joined   the  Half- 
King.     A  council  was  held,  and  it  was  determined 
to  march  together,  hand  in  hand,  "  and  strike  the 
French."     Two  Indians  who  had  been  sent  out  to 
ascertain  fihe  position  of  the  enemy,  discovered  them 
in  an  almost  inaccessible  retreat  at  a  short  distance. 
A  plan  of  attack  was  agreed   upon,  and   the  move- 
ment was  at  once  begun.     The  French  discovered 
their  approach,  however,  and  flew  to  arms.     Firing 
immediately  began  on  both  sides,  and  was  continued 
with  vigor  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  when  the  French 
gave  up.     Their  commander,  M.  de  Jumonville,  and 
nine  of  his  men   were  killed,  twenty-two  men  were 
taken  prisoners,  and  one  man,  a  Canadian,  made  his 
escape  at  the  beginning  of  the  affray.     This  man, 
whose    name  was    Mouceau,  returned    safe   to  Fort 
Duquesne.      He  gave  to  de  Contrecceur  an  entirely 
untruthful  account  of  the  affair  up  to  the  moment  of 
his  escape,    which    has    been    perpetuated    by   the 
French  historians,  much  to  the  prejudice  of  Washing- 
ton's good  name.     In  the  skirmish,  Washington  had 


i 


^ 


n 


ifill 


5a 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


one  man  killed,  and  two  or  three  wounded.     The 
Indians  escaped  unharmed. 

Among  the  prisoners  were  two  principal  officers, 
M.  Drouillon  and  M.  La  Force,  and  two  cadets,  M. 
de  Boucherville  and  M.  du  Sable.  With  La  Force, 
Washington  had  some  acquaintance.  He  had  ac- 
companied Washington  a  few  months  before  on  his 
journey  from  Venango  to  Fort  Le  Boeuf.  He  was  a 
dangerous  enemy.  Washington  represents  him  as 
**a  bold,  enterprising  man,  and  a  person  of  great 
subtlety  and  cunning."  "These  officers  pretend 
they  were  coming  on  an  embassy,"  writes  Washing- 
ton to  Governor  Dinwiddle,  **  but  the  absurdity  of 
this  pretext  is  too  glaring,  as  you  will  see  by  the  in- 
structions and  summons  inclosed.  Their  instructions 
were  to  reconnoiter  the  country,  roads,  creeks,  and 
the  like,  as  far  as  the  Potomac,  which  they  were 
about  to  do.  .  .  .  This,  with  several  other 
reasons,  induced  all  the  officers  to  believe  firmly  that 
they  were  sent  as  spies,  rather  than  anything  else, 
and  has  occasioned  my  detaining  them  as  prisoners, 
though  they  expected,  or  at  least  had  some  faint 
hope,  that  they  should  be  continued  as  ambassa- 
dors."* Washington  treated  these  officers  with  great 
kindness,  and  forwarded  them  with  a  letter  bespeak- 

*  Sparks,  Vol.  II.  p.  33. 


GREAT    MEADOWS. 


53 


ing  the  favor  of  the  governor ;  but  the  history  of  La 
Force  was  such  that  it  was  deemed  proper  to  keep 
hiin  in  confinement.  He  was  accordingly  put  in  jail 
at  Williamsburg.  About  two  years  afterward,  he 
managed  to  escape  from  durance,  but  was  captured 
before  he  had  proceeded  far  in  his  flij^'ht,  and  returned 
to  prison,  loaded  with  chains,*  M.  Drouillon  was 
sent  to  England. 

Colonel  Fry,  when  on  his  way  to  join  Washington, 
died  suddenly  at  Wills  Creek,  on  the  thirty-first  of 
May,  and  the  chief  command  devolved  upon  Wash- 
ington. Some  reinforcements  had  been  sent  forward, 
and  he  now  found  himself  at  the  head  of  about  four 
hundred  men.  The  principal  part  of  these  reinforce- 
ments was  a  company  of  independent  troops  from 
South  Carolina,  under  Captain  Mackay.  As  Wash- 
ington apprehended  that  as  soon  as  the  news  of  the 
recent  skirmish  should  reach  Fort  Duquesne,  a 
stronger  party  would  be  sent  out  against  him,  he  at 
once  set  to  work  to  enlarge  and  strengthen  the  slight 
fortification  that  he  had  made  at  Great  Meadows. 
The  work  was  called  Fort  Necessity. 

Washington  now  renewed  his  attempt  to  reach  the 
mouth  of  the  Redstone.  Captain  Mackay  and  his 
company  of  South  Carolinians  were  left  as  a  guard  at 

•Sparks,  Vol.  II.  o.  178,  note'. 


iia^JSS^^wm- 


fcj*J>j(.,.  iA.t,  ji-ni.^ '^ 


m- 


!>♦ 


54 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


the  fort,  and  Washington  and  his  men  moved  for- 
ward. They  cleared  the  path,  and  made  a  road  as 
they  proceeded,  for  the  passage  of  artillery  and 
wagons.  But  the  labor  was  so  arduous,  that  in  two 
weeks  they  had  advanced  only  as  far  as  Mr.  Gist's 
place,  at  the  second  crossing  of  the  Youghiogheny. 
Here  Washington  was  informed  that  a  very  large 
force  of  French  and  Indians  were  on  the  march  to 
oppose  him.  It  was  determined  at  first  to  make  a 
stand  at  Mr.  Gist's ;  accordingly  intrenchments  were 
made,  and  Captain  Mackay  was  ordered  to  bring  his 
company  forward.  At  a  council  of  war,  however, 
it  was  resolved  to  retire  eastward,  and  the  retrograde 
movement  was  begun.  It  was  not  the  intention  to 
remain  at  Fort  Necessity,  but  when  they  reached 
that  point  the  men  were  found  to  be  so  fatigued,  and 
so  exhausted  from  the  want  of  food,  that  it  was 
thought  advisable  to  confront  the  enemy  there.  The 
works  were  accordingly  further  strengthened,  the 
ground  cleared  of  trees  and  bushes,  and  preparations 
made  for  the  expected  conflict. 

They  had  not  long  to  wait.  Eai^  in  the  morning 
of  July  3,  Washington  received  word  that  the  enemy, 
nine  hundred  strong,  was  in  his  near  neighborhood. 
Their  commander  was  M.  de  Villiers,  brother  of  the 
unfortunate    Jumonville.      By    eleven    o'clockf  the 


GREAT    MEADOWS. 


55 


|ning 
r/ny, 
lood. 
the 
the 


whole  body  approached  the  fort,  and  began  a  brisk 
firing  at  some  Httle  distance,  with  the  object  of  draw- 
ing Washington  away  from  his  defenses.  But  Wash- 
ington collected  his  men  within  the  fort,  and  an  in- 
terchange of  firing  was  kept  up  all  day,  but  with  no 
great  effect  on  either  side.  The  rain  poured  down 
nearly  constantly.  The  trenches  were  filled  with 
water,  and  many  of  the  arms  were  rendered  unserv- 
iceable. At  the  close  of  the  day  the  French  asked 
for  a  parley,  and  that  an  officer  might  be  sent  out  to 
them  for  that  purpose,  engaging  at  the  same  time  for 
his  safety.  The  request  was  at  first  refused,  as 
Washington  suspected  it  to  be  only  a  ruse  to  dis- 
cover his  condition  ;  but  upon  being  repeated  Cap- 
tain Vanbraam,  a  Dutchman,  who  professed  to  have 
some  knowledge  of  the  French  language,  was  sent 
out.  He  returned  with  certain  articles  of  capitula- 
tion, which  he  pretended  to  interpret.  The  terms, 
as  they  were  explained  to  Washington,  were  not 
rigorous.  The  English  were  to  be  allowed  to  retire 
without  molestation,  with  colors  flying  and  drums 
beating,  and  to  take  everything  with  them  except 
their  artillery.*  Washington's  force  in  the  battle  of 
Fort  Necessity  was  about  four  hundred  men.  Twelve 
of  the  Virginia  troops  were  killed,  and  about  forty- 

*  Sparks,  Vol.  I.  p.  56. 


■  i^f^-^-^  ■..».'i4w>«fKwmufwa.<».>. 


56 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


three  were  wounded.  The  loss  to  Captain  Mackay's 
company  is  not  known.  The  next  morning  the 
English  marched  out,  taking  their  wounded  with 
them.  The  men  were  in  a  very  weak  and  enfeebled 
condition  from  long  exposure,  hard  labor,  and  insuf- 
ficient food,  and  were  much  encumbered  with  the 
baggage  and  wounded.  There  was  some  pilfering  of 
the  departing  soldiery  by  the  Indians,  and  some 
danger  of  such  a  horrible  tragedy  as  a  few  years  later 
took  place  at  Fort  William  Henry;  but  this  calamity 
was  providentially  averted,  and  the  English  retired 
without  any  serious  embarrassment. 

Two  points  in  the  articles  of  stipulation  afterward 
involved  Washington  in  some  adverse  criticism  and 
personal  odium.  The  loyalty  cf  Vanbraam  has  been 
suspected ;  besides,  his  knowledge  of  both  English 
and  French  was  very  deficient.  Washington  did  not 
understand  the  French  language ;  also,  it  must  be 
remembered  that  at  this  time  he  was  but  a  youth  of 
barely  twenty-two  years.  One  of  these  points  was 
to  the  effect  that  the  English  should  not  attempt  to 
make  any  establishments  at  that  place  or  west  of  the 
mountains  for  the  space  of  one  year.*     The  language 


•  The  language  of  the  article  was,  "Danscelieu-ci,  ni  de9a  de  la  hauteur 
des  terres,  pendant  une  ann^e  a  compter  de  ce  jour." — Sparks'  Writings  of 
Washington,  Vol.  II.,  Appendix,  note. 


Isimiiiijjiii^^^uMMMiMiiitmltiimtM^ 


GREAT   MEADOWS. 


St 


vard 
and 
een 
lish 
not 
be 
hof 
was 
t  to 
the 
age 

luteur 


of  the  article  was  explained  to  Washington  by  Van- 
braam  to  mean  that  the  English  would  "not  attempt 
buildings  or  improvements  on  the  lands  of  his  Most 
C!  fistian  Majesty."  As  Washington  denied  the 
right  of  the  French  king  to  the  country  in  the  Ohio 
valley,  he  very  readily  assented  to  the  proposition. 
He  was  afterward  somewhat  criticised  by  his  country- 
men for  granting  this  stipulation. 

Again,  the  language  of  one  of  the  articles  referred 
to  the  death  of  Jumonville  as  an  assassination.  The 
language  used  was,  **  I'assassinat  du  Sieur  de  Jumon- 
ville." This  was  misread  and  misconstrued  by  Van- 
braam.  An  officer  of  the  regiment  afterward  declared 
that  no  such  word  as  '*  assassination  "  was  mentioned. 
As  the  article  v/as  interpreted,  it  read,  "  the  death 
of  Jumonville."  As  it  stood,  it  brought  upon  Wash- 
ington a  great  deal  of  odium  with  the  French.  "  We 
made  the  English  consent  to  sign,"  said  de  Villiers, 
"that  they  had  assassin  ^ted  my  brother  in  his  camp." 
The  French  claimed  that  Jumonville  was  proceeding 
as  a  peaceful  am.bassador,  and  that  he  had  been  ruth- 
lessly assassinated  by  Washington.  The  French 
nation  grew  very  warm  over  it.  It  was  made  the 
subject  of  an  epic  by  M.  Thomas,  a  somewhat  dis- 
tinguished French  poet.  We  have  seen  the  character 
of    Jumonville.      He  came  with  a  large  retinue  of 


58 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


f  ! 


I 


armed  men.  He  secreted  himself  as  well  as  he  could 
in  an  obscure  retreat.  He  ran  to  arms  immediately 
on  the  approach  of  the  Virginians.  He  made  no 
amicable  demonstration  whatever.  "They  pretend 
that  they  called  to  us,"  says  Washington,  "as  soon 
as  we  were  discovered,  which  is  absolutely  false,  for 
I  was  at  the  head  of  the  party  in  approaching  them, 
and  can  affirm,  that,  as  soon  as  they  saw  us,  they  ran 
to  their  arms  without  calling,  which  I  should  have 
heard  if  they  had  done  so."  The  character  of  Jum- 
onville  was  very  dubious,  to  say  the  least.  While 
generally  just  and  generous  toward  Washington,  the 
French  have  always  held  up  their  hands  in  horror  at 
this  act,  and  have  excused  it  only  on  account  of  the 
youth  and  inexperience  of  Washington,  and  the  vio- 
lence of  his  men.  Captains  Vanbraam  and  Stobo 
were  given  as  hostages  to  the  French  for  the  return 
of  the  prisoners  taken  in  the  skirmish  with  Jumon- 
ville.  The  cartel  was  not  recognized  by  the  author- 
ities. These  officers  were  taken  first  to  Fort  Du- 
quesne  and  afterward  sent  to  Canada.  After  some 
time  Captain  Stobo  made  his  escape.  Vanbraam 
disappears   from     the   history.*      The     conduct   of 

*  He  is  said  to  have  returned  to  Williamsburg,  Virginia,  in  the  fall  of 
1760,  after  a  confinement  of  six  years  in  Canada.  Sqq  History  of  Western 
Pennsylvania,  p.  81,  note. 


SsSisSaisasiii 


tely 
no 
tend 
soon 
e,  for 
[hem, 
jy  ran 
I  have 
f  Jum- 
Wbile 
on,  the 
orror  at 
t  of  the 
the  vio- 
Stobo 
return 
Jumon- 
author- 
ort  Du- 
ter  son\e 
[anbraam 
,duct  of 

In  the  fall  of 
,  of  Western 


GREAT    MEADOWS. 


59 


Washington  and  the  Virginia  troops  was  highly 
approved  by  the  governor  and  council,  and  met  with 
the  almost  unqualified  praise  of  the  people.  Wash- 
ington and  his  officers  received  a  vote  of  thanks  of 
the  house  of  burgesses  for  their  brave  and  gallant 
service  in  defence  of  their  country,  while  a  pistole  was 
granted  from  the  public  treasury  to  each  of  the 
soldiers. 

The  affair  of  Great  Meadows  was  not  a  great  thing 
in  itself,  but  it  is  memorable  as  the  first  conflict  of 
arms  in  the  long  and  bitter  war  that  followed,  and  as 
the  scene  of  the  first  unsheathing  of  the  sword  of 
Washington — a  sword  that  afterv/ard  pointed  out 
the  path  that  led  his  country  to  liberty  and  inde- 
pendence. 


fe«'jfi 


r,'iia-ti-;ri«TimaM , 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


BRADDOCK'S  DEFEAT. 

In  the  winter  of  1754  the  British  government 
resolved  upon  more  energetic  measures  in  the  strug- 
gle with  France  in  America.  As  one  part  of  the 
general  plan,  it  was  resolved  to  send  two  regiments 
of  regulars,  the  Forty-fourth  and  Forty-eighth,  of 
about  five  hundred  men  each,  to  act  against  Fort 
Duquesne.  These  regiments  were  under  Sir  Peter 
Halket  and  Colonel  Dunbar,  the  whole  expedition 
being  under  the  command  of  Major-General  Edward 
Braddock,  a  veteran  officer  of  approved  skill,  courage 
and  integrity.  He  had  entered  the  service  as  an  en- 
sign in  the  famous  Coldstream  Guards  in  the  year 
17 10,  and  had  risen  step  by  step  to  his  present  posi- 
tion.*    As  the  event  proved,  he  was  not  well  suited 

*  His  father,  whose  name  he  bore,  had  been  an  officer  of  high  rank  in 
the  same  regiment,  "  and  it  may  be  worth  noting  that  the  total  period  of 
service  in  this  regiment  of  father  and  ?on  did  not  fall  short  of  seventy  years, 
during  all  which  period  the  name  of  Edward  Braddock  appeared  on  its 
roster." — Sargent's  History  of  Braddock' s  Expedition,  p.  123. 


k.i 


BRADDOCK'S   DEFEAT- 


6i 


nent 

trug- 
{  the 
i\ents 

:h,  of 
■port 
Peter 
dition 
dward 
ourage 
an  en- 
e  year 
t  posi- 
suited 

^h  raiiVc  in 
period  of 
finiy  years, 
[red  on  Us 


for  an  enterprise  like  that  in  which  he  was  now  en- 
gaged;  but  "whatever  were  his  faiHngs,"  says  Park- 
man,  "  he  feared  nothing,  and  his  fidelity  and  honor 
in  the  discharge  of  public  trusts  were  never  ques- 
tioned." 

In  January,  1755,  the  two  designated  regiments 
embarked  at  Cork,  and  in  the  following  March  arrived 
at  Hampton,  in  Virginia.  From  Hampton  they  pro- 
ceeded to  Alexandria,  where  a  camp  was  formed. 
Braddock  experienced  great  difficulty  in  procuring 
wagons  to  convey  the  baggage  and  stores  of  his  army. 
By  the  influence  mainly  of  Dr.  Franklin,  among  the 
farmers  of  Pennsylvania,  a  sufficient  number  of  horses 
and  wagons  was  at  length  obtained.  In  May,  Braddock 
reached  Fort  Cumberland,  at  Wills  Creek,  on  the 
very  frontier  of  western  civilization.  He  had  been 
joined  by  a  number  of  provincial  troops,  so  that  his 
entire  force  was  now  about  twenty-two  hundred  men. 
Among  the  Virginians  who  had  flocked  to  his  stan- 
dard was  the  youthful  George  Washington,  already 
somewhat  known  to  fame  for  his  gallant  conduct  in 
the  border  troubles.  Braddock  made  Washington 
his  aide-de-camp,  and  in  this  position  he  did  invaluable 
service  in  the  ensuing  campaign.  By  the  tenth  of 
June,  Braddock  had  his  army  in  motion  from  Fort 
Cumberland.     But  the  cumbrousness  of  his  baggage 


.:':  ^iDm-Si^M 


Ill 


62 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


and  the  difficulties  of  the  march  were  such  that  by 
the  eighteenth  of  the  month  he  had  only  reached 
the  Little  IVk  'dows,  a  distance  of  thirty  miles.  A 
road  had  to  be  cut  through  the  wilderness  ;  and  not 
only  that,  but  Braddock  seemed  to  think  it  necessary 
to  bridge  every  little  stream,  and  level  every  mole- 
hill in  his  way.  All  this  disgusted  Washington,  who 
at  length  prevailed  upon  Braddock  to  leave  the  heavy 
baggage  under  the  care  of  Colonel  Dunbar,  and  push 
forward.  But  their  progress  was  still  extremely  slow, 
so  that  it  was  not  until  the  evening  of  the  eighth  of 
July  that  they  reached  the  Monongahela  river,  a  little 
below  the  mouth  of  the  Youghiogheny.  Braddock 
had  with  him  about  fifteen  hundred  men,  the  rest 
having  been  left  with  Colonel  Dunbar  in  charge  of 
the  baggage. 

On  the  morning  of  the  ninth  of  July,  Braddock 
crossed  to  the  left  bank  of  the  Monongahela,  to 
avoid  some  hills  that  ran  down  to  the  water's  edge. 
His  route  then  lay  along  the  flat  lands  on  the  left 
bank  for  about  three  miles,  when  he  re-crossed  the 
river  at  a  point  a  short  distance  below  the  mouth  of 
Turtle  Creek.  A  house  stood  here  which  belonged 
to  John  Frazier,  the  Indian  trader.  Washington 
knew  the  place  well,  as  he  had  stopped  at  Frazier's, 
both  when  going  and  coming  on  his  famous  trip  to 


braddock's  defeat. 


63 


ddock 

2\a,  to 
edge, 
he  left 
^d  the 
uth  of 
longed 
lington 
azier's, 
trip  to 


m 


Fort  Le  Bceuf,  some  eighteen  months  before.  This 
house  was  within  nine  miles  of  Fort  Duquesne. 
Braddock  and  his  men  no  doubt  felt  that  their  long 
march  wa«  about  ended,  and  the  object  of  the  expe- 
dition almost  realized.  The  idea  of  any  serious  op- 
position being  offered  them  never  entered  the  head 
of  the  over-confident  Braddock.  Washington  from 
the  first  had  predicted  otherwise.  "We  shall  have 
more  to  do,"  said  he,  "than  to  march  up  hill  and 
then  down  again." 

It  was  about  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  a 
sunny  summer  day,  when  Braddock's  irmy  crossed, 
and  halted  in  a  narrow  plain  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
Monongahela,  and  then  re-formed  for  the  march.  A 
rough  path  led  from  Frazier's  house  to  Fort  Du- 
quesne, and  along  this  the  army  began  to  move 
slowly.  This  path  ran  inland  for  a  little,  then  curved 
to  the  left  and  followed  a  course  parallel  to  the  river, 
along  the  base  of  a  line  of  steep  hills  that  bordered 
the  valley.*  But  meantime  let  us  note  what  is  taking 
place  at  Fort  Duquesne.  James  Smith,  an  intelligent 
young  man  of  eighteen,  gives  us  some  information  on 
this  point. t     He  had  been  one  of  Braddock's  road- 

*Parkman's  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  Chapter  VII. 

t  Smith's  Narrative  has  been  several  times  reprinted  ;  it  may  be  found 
in  Drake's /«rfm«  Captivities,  pp.  178-264. 


64 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


'11  1^ 


cutters,  and  had  been  captured  by  the  Indians  a 
short  time  before.  He  had  been  carried  prisoner  to 
Fort  Duquesne,  and  compelled  to  run  the  gauntlet, 
according  to  their  custom,  and  was  very  severely 
handled.  "On  the  ninth  day  of  July,  1755,  in  the 
morning,"  he  says,  "I  heard  a  great  stir  in  the  fort. 
As  I  could  then  walk  with  a  staff  in  my  hand,  I  went 
out  of  the  door,  which  was  just  by  the  wall  of  the 
fort,  and  stood  upon  the  wall,  and  viewed  the  Indians 
in  a  huddle  before  the  gate,  where  there  were  barrels 
of  powder,  bullets,  flints,  etc.,  and  everyone  taking 
what  suited.  I  saw  the  Indians  also  march  off  in 
rank  entire  ;  likewise  the  French  Canadians  and  some 
regulars."  Though  the  Indians  now  went  off  with 
some  alacrity,  only  a  short  time  before  they  had  been 
slow  enough.  As  the  large  force  of  Braddock  drew 
near,  De  Contrecceur,  the  commandant,  was  filled  with 
alarm.  He  did  not  feel  that  he  was  able  to  defend 
the  fort.  Captain  Reaujeu,  a  man  of  great  courage 
and  enterprise,  had  recently  arrived  with  some  re- 
enforcements.  He  had  been  designated  to  relieve 
De  Contrecceur,  and  in  a  few  days  would  have  as- 
sumed command  of  the  fort.*     He  now  appealed  to 

*  The  claim  has  been  made  that  Beaujeu  was  in  command  of  the  fort  at 
this  time,  but  Parkman  very  conclusively  shows  that  De  Contrecceur  was 
in  the  chief  command.  See  the  matter  discussed  in  Parkman's  Montcalm 
and  Wolfe,  Appendix  D, 


w 


_mm^^m 


fort  at 
3ur  was 
to/ttcalm 


: 


braddock's  defeat. 


65 


the  Indians  to  go  out  with  him  and  meet  the  enemy. 
From  this  appeal  they  recoiled  in  alarm.  "I  am 
determined  to  go  out  against  the  enemy,"  said  Beau- 
jeu.  **  I  am  certain  of  victory.  What!"  he  ex- 
claimed, "will  you  suffer  your  father  to  depart 
alone?"  The  Indians  at  length  consented  to  go. 
Beaujeu's  party  consisted  of  six  hundred  and  thirty- 
seven  Indians,  thirty-six  French  officers  and  cadets, 
seventy-two  regulars,  and  one  hundred  and  forty-six 
Canadians,  or  about  nine  hundred  men  in  all.*  It 
had  been  Beaujeu's  intention  to  contest  the  passage 
of  the  Monongahela  at  the  second  ford,  but  dissen- 
sions among  his  Indians,  and  other  obstacles,  had 
interfered  somewhat  with  his  march,  and  he  met  the 
van  of  Braddock's  army  about  half  a  mile  from  the 
river.  But  the  ground  was  favorable  to  his  purpose, 
being  covered  with  a  thick  growth  of  trees  and 
bushes,  and  intersected  with  shallow  ravines. 

It  has  been  generally  represented  that  Braddock 
fell  into  an  ambuscade ;  but,  as  Parkman  says,  there 
was  no  ambuscade  ;  on  the  contrary,  except  that  he 
did  not  reconnoiter  the  woods  very  far  in  advance  of 
the  head  of  the  column,  Braddock  had  made  *'  elab 
orate  dispositions  to  prevent  surprise."  The  van- 
guard,   with  the  road-cutters,    had  proceeded   some 

*  Parkraan's  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  Chapter  VII. 


* 


;l 


66 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


a 
^ 


U 


'   S,  ' 


i!lil 


distance  up  the  slope,  when  Mr.  Gordon,  one  of  the 
engineers  who  were  in  front  marking  out  the  road, 
perceived  the  enemy  bounding  forward.  Before 
them,  with  long  leaps,  came  Beaujeu,  in  Indian  cos- 
tume, but  wearing  a  silver  gorget  on  his  bosom, 
which  bespoke  his  leadership.  He  suddenly  halted 
when  he  came  in  sight  of  the  British,  and  waved  his 
hat  above  his  head.  At  this  signal  his  party  instantly 
dispersed  to  the  right  and  left,  and  secreted  them- 
selves behind  rocks  and  trees,  and  in  the  convenient 
ravines.  If  the  earth  had  opened  and  swallowed 
them  up  they  could  not  have  more  completely  dis- 
appeared from  view.*  At  once  a  volley  of  musketry 
assailed  the  vanguard.  The  troops  promptly  faced 
about,  and  discharged  their  arms ;  but  as  no  enemy 
was  visible,  their  fire  was  of  little  effect.  Volley  after 
volley  was  poured  into  their  ranks.  Re-enforcements 
were  hurried  forward,  and  the  fire  of  the  unseen  en- 
emy was  returned  with  spirit.  At  the  third  fire,  the 
gallant  Beaujeu  fell  dead.  Dumas  succeeded  to  the 
command.  The  leaden  hail  continued  to  pour  upon 
the  British  ranks,  and  men  were  falling  thick  and  fast 
on  every  side.  The  troops  became  demoralized  and 
fell  back,  abandoning  the  two  guns  that  had  been 
hauled  in  front.     Courage  was  not  wanting,  but  it 

*Sargent's  History  of  Braddock' s  Expedition,  p.  227. 


BRADDOCK'S  DEFEAT. 


67 


seemed  impossible  to  contend  successfully  against  an 
invisible  foe.  The  work  of  carnage  went  on,  the 
British  firing  at  random,  often  into  the  air,  and  some- 
times into  their  own  ranks.  The  Provincial  troops 
would  have  taken  to  the  trees,  and  fought  the  Indians 
in  their  own  way,  but  this  Braddock  would  not  allow. 
To  him  it  seemed  cowardice  to  skulk  behind  trees. 
He  knew  of  but  one  way  to  fight,  and  that  was  to 
stand  up  to  the  work  like  men.  As  for  himself, 
Braddock  was  the  impersonation  of  intrepidity.  The 
old  warrior  galloped  through  all  parts  of  the  field,  or- 
dering, exhorting,  and  swearing.  He  had  four  horses 
shot  under  him,  and  had  mounted  a  fifth  when  a  ball 
pierced  his  side.  Already  the  order  for  retreat  had 
been  sounded  ;  but  with  the  fall  of  Braddock,  the  re- 
treat became  a  rout.  The  dreadful  work  of  carnage 
had  gone  on  for  more  than  two  hours,  and  all  disci- 
pline and  regard  for  military  authority  had  now 
merged  into  an  instinctive  desire  to  preserve  life  by 
escape  from  the  bloody  scene.  The  soldiers  rushed 
pellmell  down  the  hill  and  across  the  river,  leaving 
everything  behind  them.  Every  effort  to  stop  them 
or  to  make  another  stand,  was  unavailing.  Braddock 
was  borne  from  the  field  by  a  few  of  his  officers,  and 
Washington,  with  a  handful  of  his  gallant  Virginians^ 
covered  the  retreat.     The  destruction  of  Braddock's 


itf** 


i 


68 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


1^! 


i'    I 


force  was  almost  complete.  Of  eighty-six  officers, 
sixty-three  were  killed  or  disabled  ;  and  of  one  thous- 
and three  hundred  and  seventy-three  non-commis- 
sioned officers  and  privates,  only  four  hundred  and 
fifty-nine  came  off  unharmed.*  The  wounded  were 
left  on  the  field,  and  the  imagination  shudders 
at  the  thought  of  the  barbarities  of  the  savages, 
whose  tender  mercies  even  are  cruel.  The  loss  to 
the  French  and  Indians  was  but  forty  or  fifty  in  all. 
Young  James  Smith,  as  he  saw  the  party  of  Beau- 
jeu  file  off  that  morning  toward  the  fo  est,  was  in 
high  hopes  that  he  would  soon  see  them  flying  before 
the  British,  and  that  General  Braddock  would  take 
the  fort  and  rescue  him.  "  I  remained  anxious  to 
know  the  event  of  this  day,  "  he  says,  "  and,  in  the 
afternoon,  I  again  observed  a  great  noise  and  commo- 
tion in  the  fort,  and  though  at  that  time  I  could  not 
understand  French,  yet  I  found  that  it  was  the  voice 
of  joy  and  triumph,  and  feared  that  they  had  received 
what  I  called  bad  news.  I  had  observed  some  of  the 
old  country  soldiers  speak  Dutch  ;  as  I  spoke  Dutch 
I  went  to  one  of  them  and  asked  him  what  was  the 
news.     He  told  me  that  a  runner  had  just  arrived, 

*These  figures  are  given  a  little  differently  by  different  authorities  ;  the 
above  are  adopted  by  Parkman  on  the  authority  of  Patrick  Mackellar,  who 
was  chief  engineer  of  the  expedition. 


'i    I 


braddock's  defeat. 


H 


icers, 

hous- 

Timis- 

d  and 
were 

Lidders 

.vages, 

loss  to 
in  all. 

f  Beau- 
was  in 

a  before 

ild  take 

dous  to 
in  the 
commo- 
uld  not 
ie  voice 
received 
ne  of  the 
:e  Dutch 
was  the 
arrived, 

lorities  ;    the 
ickellar,  who 


who  said  that  Braddock  would  certainly  be  defeated ; 
that  the  Indians  and  French  had  surrounded  him,  and 
were  concealed  behind  trees  and  in  gullies,  and  kept 
a  constant  fire  upon  the  English  ;  and  that  they  saw 
the  English  falling  in  heaps,  and  if  they  did  not  take 
to  the  river,  which  was  the  only  gap,  and  make  their 
escape,  there  would  not  be  one  man  left  alive  before 
sundown.  Some  time  after  this  I  heard  a  number 
of  scalp  halloos,  and  saw  a  company  of  Indians 
and  French  coming  in.  I  observed  they  had  a  great 
many  bloody  scalps,  grenadiers'  caps,  British  canteens, 
bayonets,  etc.,  with  them.  They  brought  the  news 
that  Braddock  was  defeated.  After  that  another 
company  came  in,  which  appeared  to  be  about  one 
hundred,  and  chiefly  Indians,  and  it  seemed  to  me 
that  almost  every  one  of  this  company  was  carrying 
scalps ;  after  this  came  another  company  with  a 
number  of  wagon  horses,  and  also  a  great  many 
scalps.  Those  that  were  coming  in,  and  those  that 
had  arrived,  kept  a  constant  firing  of  small  arms,  and 
also  the  great  guns  in  the  fort,  which  were  accom- 
panied with  the  most  hideous  shouts  and  yells  from 
all  quarters,  so  that  it  appeared  to  me  as  if  the 
infernal  regions  had  broke  loose. 
'  "About  sundown  I  beheld  a  small  party  coming 
in  with   about   a  dozen    prisoners,   stripped   naked, 


> 


mm 


mmmm 


70 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALI/EV. 


^' 


I!  i  i 


I     \ 


ll 


I 


III 


with  their  hands  tied  behind  their  backs,  and  their 
faces  and  part  of  their  bodies  blacked  ;  these  prisoners 
they  burned  to  death  on  the  bank  of  the  Allegheny- 
river,  opposite  to  the  fort.  I  stood  on  the  fort  wall 
until  I  beheld  them  begin  to  burn  one  of  these  men ; 
they  had  him  tied  to  a  stake,  and  kept  touching  him 
with  firebrands,  red-hot  irons,  etc.,  and  he  screamed 
in  a  most  dolefu^  inanner ;  the  Indians,  in  the  mean- 
time, yelling  like  infernal  spirits.  As  this  scene 
appeared  too  shocking  for  me  to  behold,  I  retired  to 
my  lodgings  both  sore  and  sorry."  But  there  was 
one  note  of  regret  in  the  midst  of  the  rejoicing  at 
Fort  Duquesne:  the  brave  Beaujeu  had  fallen.  His 
body  was  brought  back  to  the  fort,  and  buried  on  the 
twelfth  "  in  the  cemetery  of  Fort  Duquesne,  under 
the  title  of  the  Assumption  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  at 
the  Beautiful  river."* 

Dunbar's  camp  was  forty  miles  in  the  rear.  Brad- 
dock  reached  the  camp  on  the  eleventh.  With  the 
news  of  Braddock's  defeat,  a  wanton  and  useless 
destruction  of  stores  and  arms  was  made,  and  a 
retreat  to  Fort  Cumberland  begun.  Braddock 
lingered   in   great  agony,  of  both   body  and   mind, 

*  See  the  Register  of  Baptisms  and  Interments  at  Fort  Duquesne,  An 
excellent  edition,  with  a  translation  of  this  work,  has  been  published  by 
Rev.  A.  A.  Lambing,  A.  M. 


f 


iiiMrrmT  • 


braddock's  defeat. 


71 


Brad- 

\Vith  the 
useless 

ie,  and  a 
iBraddock 

|nd  mind, 

buquesne.    A^ 
published  by 


until  the  evening  of  Sunday,  the  thirteenth  of  July, 
when  he  died.  His  last  words  were,  "  We  shall 
better  know  how  to  deal  with  them  another  time." 
He  died  at  the  Great  Meadows,  and  was  buried  the 
next  day  in  the  road,  and  the  wagons  were  drawn 
over  his  grave  so  that  it  might  not  be  discovered  by 
the  Indians. 

Bad  news  flies  fast.  At  ten  o'clock  the  next  day 
after  the  battle,  a  teamster,  covered  with  dust  and 
perspiration,  and  mounted  on  a  weary  horse,  rode 
into  Dunbar's  camp  with  the  news  of  the  defeat ;  at 
noon  the  following  day  it  was  known  at  Fort  Cum- 
berland ;  on  the  fifteenth  at  Carlisle  ;  by  the 
eighteenth  of  the  month  at  Philadelphia,*  and  soon 
everywhere.  The  news  of  the  defeat  caused  a  great 
revulsion  of  feeling.  The  highest  hopes  had  been 
built    on    Braddock's    expedition.       All    over    the 

*  I  give  this  date  on  the  authority  of  Mr.  H.  P.  Cochran  of  Richmond, 

Virginia,  who  writes  me  as  follows  :     "I  find  in  a  manuscript  diary  in  the 

Virginia  State  Library,  kept  by  a  gentleman  of  this  '^tate  during  the  year 

1755,  the  following  entry  written  in    Philadelphia  :      '  Friday,  July  18. 

This  afternoon  about  three  o'clock  we  were  terribly  alarmed  by  an  express 

by  way  of  Maryland,  from  Colonel  Innis,  dated  at  Wills  Creek  or  Fort 

Cumberland,  July  11,  giving  an  account  that  the  forces  under  General 

Braddock  were  entirely  defeated  by  the  French,  on  the  ninth,  on  the  river 
Monongahela.'  " 


r-^ 


72 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


;  I  f 


country  that   summer   people   had   been   singing  a 
patriotic  song,  one  stanza  of  which  ran  thus  : 

"  March  on,  march  on,  brave  Braddock  leads  the  foremost ; 

The  battle  is  begun,  as  you  may  fairly  see  ; 
Stand  firm,  be  bold,  and  it  will  soon  be  over. 

We'll  soon  gain  the  field  from  our  proud  enemy."  + 

From  this  height  of  expectation  men  were  suddenly 
plunged  into  the  yawning  gulf  of  gloom  and  alarm. 
The  whole  frontier  lay  exposed  to  the  hatchet  and 
the  torch  of  the  remorseless  red  man.  "  By  this 
event,"  says  Graydon,  "every  obstacle  to  their 
incursions  being  removed,  in  the  minds  of  the  timid 
they  were  to  be  looked  for  everywhere.  From  the 
consternation  that  prevailed,  I  can  still  recollect  that 
the  horrors  of  a  discomfiture  by  such  a  foe  were 
among  my  most  early  and  lively  impressions.  To 
the  terror  of  the  tomahawk  and  the  scalping-knife, 
the  imagination  adds  the  savage  yells,  the  gloomy 
woods  and  dismal  swamps,  which  are  their  usual 
accompaniments. 


•I 
I 


+ 


>|-This  song  is  printed  in  Sargent' s  History  of  Braddock s  Expedition, 
Appendix  No.  5. 

X  Memoirs  of  his  Own  Time,  by  Alexander  Graydon,  p.  23. 


;!ii'i 


?gr^7r?g'j^.''g*^'^jriw*"ff»j^^j»<wi^'<' 


ff-.-^i^jiHvyr^'g.w 


fWtKf^' 


DESTRUCTION  OF  KITTANNING. 


73 


lenly 
Aarm. 
t  and 
y  this 
their 
e  timid 
om  the 
ect  that 
foe  were 

ns.     ^^ 
T.knife» 

gloomy 
leir   usual 


DESTRUCTION  OF  KITTANNING. 

The  apprehensions  of  the  border  settlers  were 
soon  fully  justified.  Dumas,  who  shortly  succeeded 
de  Contrecoeur  in  the  command  at  Fort  Duquesne, 
set  vigorously  to  work  to  put  the  Indians  on  the  war- 
path against  the  defenceless  settlements.  "  M.  de 
Contrecoeur  had  not  been  gone  a  week,"  he  writes, 
"  before  I  had  six  or  seven  different  war  parties  in 
the  field  at  once,  always  accompanied  by  Frenchmen. 
Thus  far,  we  have  lost  only  two  officers  and  a  few 
soldiers  ;  but  the  Indian  villages  are  full  of  prisoners 
of  every  age  and  sex.  The  enemy  has  lost  far  more 
since  the  battle  than  on  the  day  of  his  defeat."* 

All  along  the  frontier  the  murderous  work  went  on. 
At  Mahahony,  in  Union  county,  the  Indians  killed 
and  captured  about  twenty-five  persons  and  burned 
and  destroyed  the  buildings.  The  settlement  was 
abandoned.     The  settlements  of  the  Great  Cove  were 


*  Parkman's  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  Chapter  X. 


74 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


attacked,  the  houses  were  burned,  a  number  of  peo- 
ple were  killed,  and  seventeen  were  carried  off.  In 
December,  1755,  the  Indians  entered  Northampton 
county,  burned  fifty  houses,  murdered  over  one  hun- 
dred persons,  and  laid  waste  a  great  part  of  that 
county.  The  next  spring  the  savages  attacked  and 
burned  McCord's  fort,  in  Conococheague,  and  killed 
or  captured  twenty-seven  persons.  In  July,  1756, 
they  made  their  appearance  in  Sherman's  valley. 
They  captured  Fort  Granville,  and  took  a  number 
of  prisoners  whom  they  carried  to  Kittanning.* 
Fear  prevailed  throughout  the  community.  "The 
alarmed  colonists,"  says  Fenimore  Cooper,  referring 
to  those  times,  "believed  that  the  yells  of  the  sav- 
ages mingled  with  every  fitful  gust  of  wind  that 
issued  from  the  interminable  forests  of  the  west. 
The  terrific  character  of  their  merciless  enemies  in- 
creased immeasurably  the  natural  horrors  of  warfare. 
Numberless  recent  massacre?  were  still  vivid  in  their 
recollections ;  nor  was  there  any  ear  in  the  provinces 
so  deaf  as  not  to  have  drunk  in  with  avidity  the  nar- 
rative of  some  fearful  tale  of  midnight  murder,  in 
which  the  natives  of  the  forests  were  the  principal 
and  barbarous  actors,  f 

*See  the  History  of  Western  Pennsylvania,  pp.  119,  120,  and  th«  ref- 
erences there, 
t  The  Last  of  the  Mohicans,  Chapter  L 


llii;! 


DESTRUCTION  OF  KITTANNING. 


7$ 


It  was  in  the  thick  of  this  gloomy  period  that 
Colonel  John  Armstrong  determined  to  strike  a  blow 
at  the  enemy.  Armstrong  was  living  at  the  time  at 
Carlisle,  in  Pennsylvania.  He  has  been  described  as 
*•  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  of  his  time.  To 
fearless  intrepidity  of  the  highest  cast  was  united  in 
his  character  a  strong  sense  of  religious  responsibility, 
that  rarely  blends  with  military  sentiment."*  He  did 
much  valuable  service  during  our  troubles  with  the 
French,  and  afterward  served  as  a  brigadier-general 
in  the  Continental  army.  On  the  thirtieth  of  August, 
1756,  Armstrong  marched  from  Fort  Shirley  in  Hunt- 
ingdon county,  with  an  army  of  only  three  hundred 
and  seven  men,  against  the  famous  Indian  town  of 
Kittanning,  on  the  Allegheny  river.  The  French 
called  the  place  Attique.  Celeron,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, stopped  at  this  point  on  his  way  down  the 
Allegheny  in  1749.  He  described  it  as  a  Loup  vil- 
lage, and  says  it  contained  twenty-two  cabins.  The 
Loups  were  a  branch  of  the  Delawares,  and  were 
called  Munceys  by  the  English.  A  few  days  after 
Braddock's  defeat,  James  Smith  was  taken  from  Fort 
Duquesne  to  this  town,  where  he  says  he  remained 
about  three  weeks,  but  he  does  not  give  any  descrip- 
tion of  it,  more  than  to  say  that  it  stood  **on  the 

*  Washington  and  the  Generals  of  the  American  Revolution,  page  218. 


sgnoBBBi 


if 


\  •WM.MmgifPfmjuiivmttm^-'' 


76 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


ill 


(1 


!:i 


I 


1    ,: 


'I 


I 

I  ! 


north  side  of  the  river. "  From  Kittanning  there  was 
a  well  known  trail  called  the  "Kittanning  Path," 
which  led  across  the  mountains  to  the  headwaters  of 
the  Juniata.  It  was  much  traveled  by  the  Indians, 
being  in  fact  their  main  thoroughfare  between  the 
eastern  and  western  sides  of  the  Allegheny  mountains. 
Kittanning  was  the  headquarters  of  Captain  Jacobs, 
a  noted  Delaware  chief.  The  history  of  the  affair  is 
best  told  by  Armstrong  himself,  in  his  official  report 
to  Governor  Denny : 

Fort  Littleton,  September  14,  1756. 

May  it  please  your  Honor  :— Agreeable  to  mine  of  the  29th  ult.,  we 
marched  from  Fort  Shirley  the  day  following,  and  on  Wednesday,  the  third 
instant,  joined  our  advance  party  at  the  Beaver  Dams,  a  few  miles  from 
Frankstown,  on  the  north  branch  of  Juniata.  We  were  there  informed 
that  some  of  our  men  having  been  out  upon  a  scout,  had  discovered  the 
tracks  of  two  Indians  on  this  side  of  the  Allegheny  mountains,  and  but  a 
few  miles  from  the  camp.  From  the  freshness  of  the  tracks,  their  killing 
of  a  cub  bear,  and  the  marks  of  their  fires,  it  seemed  evident  that  they 
were  not  twenty-four  hours  before  us,  which  might  be  looked  upon  as  a 
particular  providence  in  our  favor  that  we  were  not  discovered.  Next 
morning  we  decamped,  and  in  two  days  came  within  fifty  miles  of  the 
Kittanning.  It  was  then  adjudged  necessary  to  send  some  persons  to 
reconnoiter  the  town,  and  to  get  the  best  intelligence  they  could  concerning 
the  situation  and  position  of  the  enemy.  Whereupon  an  officer,  with  one 
of  the  pilots  and  two  soldiers,  were  sent  off  for  that  purpose. 

The  day  following,  we  met  them  on  their  return,  and  they  informed  us 
that  the  road  was  entirely  clear  of  the  enemy,  and  that  they  had  the 
greatest  reason  to  believe  they  were  not  discovered  ;  but  from  the  rest  of 
the  intelligence  they  gave,  it  appears  they  had  not  been  nigh  enough  the 


^ 


i 


DESTRUCTION  OF  KITTANNING. 


77 


IS 


)) 


of 

as, 

the 

ins. 

Dbs, 

ir  is 

port 

uUmWC 
he  third 
;s  from 
.formed 
;red  the 
Id  but  a 
|r  kilUng 
lat  they 
,on  as  a 
Next 
of  the 
jrsons  to 
[ncerning 
iwith  one 

|»rmed  us 
had  the 
[e  test  of 
lough  the 


town,  either  to  perceive  the  true  situation  of  it,  the  number  of  the  enemy, 
or  what  way  it  might  be  most  advantageously  attacked. 

We  continued  our  march,  intending  to  get  as  near  the  town  as  possible 
that  night,  so  as  to  be  able  to  attack  it  next  morning  about  day-light  ; 
but  to  our  great  dissatisfaction,  about  nine  or  ten  o'clock  at  night,  one  of 
our  guides  came  and  told  us  that  he  perceived  a  lire  by  the  road-side,  at 
which  he  saw  two  or  three  Indians,  a  few  perches  distant  from  our  front. 
Whereupon,  with  all  possible  silence,  I  ordered  the  rear  to  retreat  about 
one  hundred  perches,  in  order  to  make  way  for  the  front,  that  we  might 
consult  how  we  could  best  proceed  without  being  discovered  by  the  enemy. 

Sometime  after,  tlie  pilot  returned  the  second  time,  and  assured  us  from 
the  best  observation  he  could  make,  there  were  not  above  three  or  four 
Indians  at  the  fire.  On  which  it  was  proposed  that  we  shouh'  immediately 
surround,  and  cut  them  off ;  but  this  was  thought  too  hazardous ;  for,  if 
but  one  of  the  enemy  had  escaped,  it  would  have  been  the  means  of  dis- 
covering the  whole  design,  and  the  light  of  the  moon,  on  which  depended 
our  advantageously  posting  our  men,  and  attacking  the  town,  would  not 
admit  of  our  staying  until  the  Indians  fell  asleep.  On  which  it  was 
agreed  to  have  Lieutenant  Hogg  go  with  twelve  men  and  the  person  who 
first  discovered  the  fire,  with  orders  to  watch  the  enemy,  but  not  to  attack 
them  till  break  of  day,  and  then,  if  possible,  to  cut  them  ofl". 

It  was  also  agreed  (we  believing  ourselves  to  be  about  six  miles  from  the 
town),  to  leave  the  horses,  many  of  them  being  tired,  with  what  blankets 
and  other  baggage  we  then  had,  and  take  a  circuit  off  of  the  road,  which 
was  very  rough  and  incommodious,  on  account  of  the  stones  and  fallen 
timber,  in  order  to  prevent  our  being  heard  by  the  enemy  at  the  fire-place. 

This  interruption  much  retarded  our  march  ;  but  a  still  greater  loss 
arose  from  the  ignorance  of  our  pilots,  who  neither  knew  the  true  situation 
of  the  town,  nor  the  best  paths  that  led  thereto  ;  by  which  means,  after 
crossing  a  number  of  hills  and  valleys,  our  front  reached  the  river  Alle- 
gheny, about  one  hundred  perches  below  the  main  body  of  the  town,  a 
little  before  the  setting  of  the  moon  ;  to  which  place,  iather  than  by  pilots, 
we  were  guided  by  the  beating  of  the  drum  and  the  whooping  of  the  war* 
riors  at  their  dances. 


7» 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


t  , 


li 


Jil' 


!1 

11 


R'-i 

lit        '  i 


It  then  became  us  to  make  the  best  use  of  the  remaining  moonlight ; 
but  ere  we  were  aware,  an  Indian  whistled  in  a  very  singular  manner, 
about  thirty  perches  from  cur  front  in  the  foot  of  a  corn-field  ;  upon  which 
we  immediately  sat  down,  and  after  passing,  silence  to  the  rear,  I  asked 
one  Baker,  a  soldier,  who  was  our  best  assistant,  whether  that  was  not  a 
signal  to  the  warriors  of  our  approach.  He  answered,  no  ;  and  said  it 
was  the  manner  of  a  young  fellow's  calling  a  squaw,  after  he  had  done  his 
dance,  who  accordingly  kindled  a  fire,  cleaned  his  gun  and  shot  it  off  be- 
fore he  went  to  sleep. 

All  this  time  we  were  obliged  to  lay  quiet  and  hush,  till  the  moon  was 
faintly  set.  Immediately  after  a  number  of  fires  appeared  in  difTerent 
parts  of  the  corn-field,  by  which.  Baker  said,  the  Indians  lay,  the  night 
being  warm,  and  that  the  fires  would  immediately  be  out,  as  they  were  only 
designed  to  disperse  the  gnats. 

By  this  time  it  was  break  of  day,  and  the  men  having  marched  thirty 
miles,  were  mostly  asleep  ;  the  line  being  long,  the  three  companies  of  the 
rear  were  not  yet  brought  over  the  last  precipice.  For  these  some  propCf 
hands  were  immediately  dispatched,  and  the  weary  soldiers  being  roused  to 
their  feet,  a  proper  number  under  sundry  officers  were  ordered  to  take  the 
end  of  the  hill,  at  which  we  then  lay,  and  march  along  the  top  of  the  said 
hill,  at  least  one  hundred  perches,  and  so  much  farther,  it  then  being  day- 
light, as  would  carry  the.Ti  opposite  the  upper  part,  or  at  least  the  body  of 
the  town,  for  the  lower  part  thereof,  and  the  corn-field,  presuming  the 
warriors  were  there,  I  kept  rather  the  larger  part  of  the  men,  promising  to 
postpone  the  attack  in  that  part  lor  eighteen  or  twenty  minutes,  until  the 
detachment  along  the  hill  should  have  time  to  advance  to  the  place 
assigned  them.     In  doing  of  which  they  were  a  little  unfortunate. 

The  time  being  elapsed  the  attack  was  begun  in  the  cornfield,  and  the 
men  with  all  expedition  possible  dispatched  through  the  several  parts 
thereof;  a  party  being  also  dispatched  to  the  houses  which  were  then 
discovered  by  the  light  of  the  day.  Captain  Jacobs  immediately  then  gave 
the  war-whoop,  and  with  sundry  other  Indians,  as  the  English  prisoners 
'afterwards  told  us,  cried,  "The  white  men  were  at  last  come,  they  would 


;.'«/,)^.**X»;ii?;fl 


igbt ; 
nner, 
which 
asked 
not  a 
said  it 
one  his 
off  be- 

)on  was 

different 
le  night 
vere  only 

ed  thirty 

lies  of  the 

le  proper 

roused  to 

take  the 

|f  the  said 
teing  day- 
lebody  of 
iming  the 
omising  to 
1.  until  the 
the  place 

Id,  and  the 

Iveral  parts 
were  then 
r  then  gave 
prisoners 
[they  would 


DESTRUCTION^  OF  KITTANNING. 


19 


then  have  scalps  enough  ; "  but  at  the  same  time  ordered  their  squaws  and 
children  to  flee  to  the  woods. 

Our  men,  with  great  earnestness,  passed  through  and  fired  in  the  corn- 
field, where  they  had  several  returns  from  the  enemy,  as  they  also  had 
from  the  opposite  side  of  the  jriver.  Presently,  after  a  brisk  fire  began 
among  the  houses,  which  from  the  .house  of  Captain  Jacobs  was  returned 
with  a  great  deal  of  resolution  ,  to  which  place  I  immediately  repaired,  and 
found  that  from  the  advantages  from  the  houses  and  port-holes,  sundry  of 
our  people  were  wounded  and  some  killed,  and  finding  that  returning  the  fire 
upon  the  house  was  ineffectual,  ordered  the  contiguous  houses  to  be  set  on 
hre,  which  was  performed  with  a  great  deal  of  activity — the  Indians  always 
firing  whenever  an  object  presented  itself,  and  seldom  missed  of  wounding 
or  killing  some  of  our  people,  from  which  house,  in  moving  about  and  giv- 
ing necessary  directions,  I  received  a  wound  with  a  large  musket  ball  in  the 
shoulder.  Sundry  persons  during  the  action,  were  ordered  to  tell  the 
Indians  to  surrender  themselves  prisoners,  but  one  of  the  Indians  in  par- 
ticular, answered  and  said:  "  He  was  a  man,  and  would  not  be  a  prisoner." 
Upon  which  he  was  told,  in  Indian,  that  he  would  be  burnt.  To  this  he 
answered,  he  did  not  care,  for  he  would  kill  four  oi  five  before  he  did  ; 
and  had  we  not  desisted  from  exposing  ourselves,  they  would  have  killed 
a  great  many  more — they  having  a  number  of  loaded  guns  there.  As  the 
fire  began  to  approach,  and  the  smoke  grew  thick,  one  of  the  Indian 
fellows,  to  show  his  manhood,  began  to  sing.  A  squaw  in  the  same  house, 
at  the  same  time,  was  heard  to  cry  and  make  a  noise,  but  for  so  doing  she 
was  severely  rebuked  by  the  men  ;  but  by  and  by,  the  fire  being  too  hot 
for  them,  two  Indian  fellows  and  a  squaw  sprung  out  and  made  for  the 
corn-field,  who  were  immediately  shot  down  by  our  people  ;  then  sur- 
rounding the  houses,  it  was  thought  Cap'ain  Jacobs  tumbled  himself  out 
at  the  garret  or  cock-loft  window,  at  which  he  was  shot— our  prisoners 
offering  to  be  qualified  to  the  powder  horn  and  pouch  there  taken  off  him, 
which  they  say  he  had  lately  got  from  a  French  officer  in  exchange  for 
Lieutenant  Armstrong's  boots,  which  he  carried  from  Fort  Granville,  where 
the  lieutenant  was  killed.  The  same  prisoners  say  they  are  perfectly  as- 
sured of  his  scalp,  as  no  other  Indians  there  wore  their  hair  in  the  same 


f' 


80 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


t\ 


manner.  They  also  say  they  know  his  squaw's  scalp  by  a  peculiar  bob, 
and  also  know  the  scalp  of  a  young  Indian  called  the  King's  Son.  Before 
this  time,  Captain  Huffh  Mercer,  who  early  in  the  action  was  wounded  in 
the  arm,  had  been  taken  to  the  top  of  the  hill  above  the  town,  to 
where  a  number  of  the  men  and  some  of  the  officers  were  gathered, 
from  Vi'hence  they  had  discovered  some  Indians  cross  the  ilver  and 
taken  the  hill,  with  an  intention,  they  thought,  to  surround  us  "nd  cut 
us  and  our  retreat  off,  from  whom  I  had  sundry  pressing  messages  to 
leave  the  house  and  retreat  .to  the  hill,  or  we  should  all  be  cut  off;  but 
to  this  T  could  by  no  means  consent,  until  all  the  houses  were  set  on  fire  ; 
though  our  spreading  upon  the  hill  appeared  very  necessary,  yet  it  did  pre- 
vent our  researches  of  the  cornfield  and  riverside,  by  which  sundry  scalps 
were  left  behind,  and  doubtless  some  squaws,  children,  and  English  prison- 
ers, that  otherwise  might  have  been  got. 

During  ;he  burninr.  of  the  houses,  which  were  nearly  thirty  in  number, 
we  were  agreeably  entertained  with  a  quick  succession  of  charged  guns 
gradually  firing  off,  as  they  were  reached  by  the  fire  ;  but  more  so  with  the 
vast  explosion  of  sundry  bafjs  and  large  kegs  of  gunpowder,  wherewith 
almost  every  house  abounded.  The  prisoners  afterwards  informing  that 
the  Indians  had  frequently  said,  they  had  a  sufficient  stock  of  ammunition 
for  tea  years  war  with  the  English.  With  the  roof  of  Captam  Jacob's 
house,  where  the  powder  blew  up,  was  thrown  the  leg  and  thigh  of  an  In- 
dian, with  a  child  of  three  or  four  years  old,  such  a  height,  that  they  ap- 
peared as  nothing,  and  fell  into  the  adjacent  cornfield. 

There  was  also  a  great  quantity  01  goods  burnt,  v'^ich  the  Indians  had 
received  but  ten  days  before  from  the  French. 

By  this  time,  I  had  proceeded  to  the  hill,  to  have  my  wound  tied  up, 
and  the  blood  stopped,  where  toe  prisoners,  who  in  the  morning '  (  come 
to  our  people,  informed  me  that  that  very  day  two  batteau.\  of  Fi  ,.ichmen 
witn  a  large  party  of  Dela  ares  and  French  Indians  were  to  join  Captain 
Jacobs  at  Kittanning,  and  to  set  out  early  ne.\t  morning  to  take  Fort  Shir- 
ley, or  as  they  calitd  it  George  Croghan  s  Fort,  and  that  twenty-four  watii- 
ors,  who  had  lately  come  to  town,  were  sent  out  before  them  the  evening 
before,  for  what  purpose  they  did  not  know,  'vhether  to  prepare  meat,  to 


I     i 


r  bob, 
Before 
ided  in 
iwn,   to 
ilhered, 
ver  and 
-nd  cut 
sages  to 
off ;  but 
on  fire  ; 
t  did  pre- 
[ry  scalps 
jh  prison- 

1  number, 
■ged  guns 
so  with  the 
wherewit'i 
ming  that 
mmunition 
]acob's 
of  an  In- 
t  ihey  ap- 

idians  had 

id  lied  up, 
ri    I  come 
IFi  ,achmen 
[m  Captain 
Fort  Shir- 
-four  wani- 
|he  evening 
l-e  meat,  to 


DESTRUCTION   OF    KITTANNING. 


8x 


in 


spy  the  fort,  or  to  make  an  attack  upon  some  of  our  back  inhabitants. 

Soon  after,  upon  a  little  reflection,  we  were  convinced  these  warriors 
were  all  at  the  fire  we  had  discovered  but  the  night  before,  and  began  to 
doubt  the  fate  of  Lieutenant  Hogg  and  his  party.  From  this  intelligence 
of  the  prisoners,  our  provisions  being  scaffolded  some  thirty  miles  back, 
except  what  were  in  the  men's  haversacks  which  were  left  with  the  horses 
and  blankets  with  Lieutenant  Hogg  and  his  party,  and  a  number  of 
wounded  people  then  on  hand,  by  the  advice  of  the  officers  it  was  thought 
I.-nprudent  then  to  wait  for  the  cutting  down  of  the  cornfield,  (which  was 
before  designed),  but  immediately  to  collect  our  wounded  and  force  our 
march  back,  in  the  best  manner  we  could,  which  we  did  by  collecting  a  few 
Indian  horses  to  carry  off  our  wounded. 

From  the  apprehension  of  being  waylaid  and  surrounded,  especially  by 
soiiie  of  the  woodsmen,  it  was  difficult  to  keep  the  men  together ;  our 
march  >br  sundry  miles,  not  exceeding  two  miles  an  hour;  which  apprehen- 
sions were  heightened  by  the  attempt  of  a  few  Indians,  who,  for  some  time 
after  the  march,  fired  upon  each  wing,  and  immediately  ran  off,  from  whom 
ve  received  no  other  damage  but  one  of  our  men  being  wounded  through  both 
legs.  Captain  Mercer  being  wounded,  was  induced,  as  we  had  reason  to 
believe,  by  some  of  his  men,  to  leave  the  main  body  with  his  ensign,  John 
Scott,  and  ten  or  twelve  men,  they  bc.iig  heard  tell  him  that  we  were  in 
great  danger,  and  th?.t  they  could  take  him  into  the  road  a  nigh  way,  is 
probably  lost,  there  being  yet  no  account  of  him,  and  most  of  the  roen 
have  come  in.  A  detachment  was  sent  back  to  bring  him  in,  but  could 
not  find  him  ;  upon  the  return  of  the  detachment,  it  was  generally  reported 
he  was  seen  with  the  above  number  of  men,  take  a  different  road. 

Upon  our  return  to  the  place  where  the  Indian  fire  had  been  di-scovered 
the  night  before,  we  met  with  a  sergeant  of  Captain  Mercer's  company 
and  two  or  three  others  of  his  men,  who  had  deserted  us  that  morning  im- 
mediately after  the  action  at  the  Kittanning.  These  men  on  running  away 
had  met  Lieutenant  Hogg,  who  lay  wounded  in  two  different  parts  of  his 
body,  by  the  roads.'de.  He  there  told  them  of  the  fatal  mistake  of  the 
piloi,  who  had  pssured  us  there  were  three  Indians  at  the  most  at  the  fire- 
place, but  when  he  came  to  attack  them  that  morning,  according  to  orders, 


T^ 


mmmmm 


mmmmMmmmmmm 


82 


THE    FRENCH    IN   THE    ALLEGHENY   VALLEY. 


T'^f  II ill 


1 1  (iii 
i. ;  I!  i 


!| 


;       ;if( 


*;       !''' 


:l 


1  I 


he  found  a  number  considerably  superior  to  his,  and  believes  they  killed, 
or  mortally  wounded,  three  of  them  at  the  first  fire.  After  which  a  warm 
engagement  began,  and  continued  for  about  an  hour,  when  three  of  his 
"best  men  were  killed,  and  himself  twice  wounded,  the  residue  fleeing  off- 
he  was  obliged  to  squat  in  a  thicket,  where  he  might  have  lain  securely 
until  the  main  body  had  come  up,  if  this  cowardly  sergeant,  and  others 
that  fled  with  him,  had  not  taken  him  away. 

They  had  marched  but  a  short  space  when  four  Indians  appeared,  oh 
which  these  deserters  began  to  flee.  The  lieutenant,  then,  nothwithstand- 
ing  his  wounds,  as  a  brave  soldier,  urging  and  commanding  them  to  stand 
and  fight,  which  they  all  refused.  The  Indians  pursued,  killing  one  man, 
and  wounding  the  lieutenai.*  1  third  time  in  the  belly,  of  which  he  died  in 
a  fev/  hours  ;  but  he  having  sonie  time  before  been  put  on  horseback,  rode 
some  miles  from  the  place  of  action  ;  but  this  last  attack  of  the  Indians 
upon  Lieutenant  Hogg  and  the  deserters,  was  by  the  before  mentioned 
sergeant,  represented  to  us  in  quite  a  different  light  :  he  telling  us  that 
there  was  a  far  larger  number  of  the  Indians  there  than  appeared  to  them, 
and  that  he  and  the  men  had  fought  five  rounds.  That  he  had  there  seen 
the  lieutenant  and  sundry  others  killed  and  scalped,  and  had  a.sr,  discovered 
a  number  of  Indians  throwing  themselves  before  us,  and  insinuated  a  great 
deal  of  such  stuff  as  threw  us  into  much  confusion.  So  that  the  officers  had 
a  great  deal  to  do  to  keep  the  man  together, but  could  not  prevail  with  them 
to  collect  what  horses  and  other  bagga^'e  the  Indians  had  left,  after  their 
conquest  of  Lieutenant  Hogg  and  the  party  under  his  command  in  the 
morning,  except  a  few  of  the  horses,  which  some  of  the  bravest  of  the  men 
were  prevailed  on  to  collect.  So  that  from  the  mistake  of  the  pilot  who  spied 
the  Indians  at  the  fire,  and  the  cowardice  of  the  said  sergeant  and  other 
deserters,  we  have  sustained  a  considerable  loss  of  our  horses  and  baggage. 

It  is  impossible  to  ascertain  the  exact  number  of  the  enemy  killed  in  the 
action,  as  some  were  destroyed  by  fire,  and  others  in  different  parts  of  the 
cornfield  ;  but  upon  a  moderate  computation,  it  is  generally  believed  there 
cannot  be  less  than  thirty  or  forty  killed  and  mortally  wounded,  as  much 
blood  was  found  in  sundry  parts  of  the  cornfield,  and  Indians  seen  in  sev- 
eral places  crawl  into  the  woods  on  hands  and  feet,  whom  ihe  soldiers,  in 


': 


DESTRUCTION   OF   KITTANNING. 


83 


F 


killftd. 
warm 
;  of  bis 
goff- 
ecurely 
others 

ired,  on 
thstand" 
to  stand 
ne  man, 
e  died  in 
ick,  rode 
e  Indians 
lentio-ned 
g  us  that 
to  them , 
here  seeii 
iscovered 
:d  a  great 
iicers  had 
ith  them 
after  their 
nd  in  the 
f  the  men 
I  who  spied 
1  and  other 
1  baggage. 
lUed  in  the 
Lrts  of  the 
tevcd  there 
1,  as  much 
leen  in  sev- 
loldiers,  in 


pursuit  of  others,  then  overlooked,  expecting  to  find  and  scalp  them  after- 
wards, and  also  several  killed  and  wounded  in  crossing  the  river. 

On  beginning  our  march  back,  we  had  about  ?  dozen  of  scalps,  and 
eleven  English  prisoners,  but  now  find  that  four  or  five  of  the  scalps  are 
missing  ;  part  of  which  were  lost  on  the  road  and  part  in  possession  of  the 
men  with  Captain  Mercer,  separated  from  the  main  body,  with  whom  also 
went  four  prisoners  ;  the  other  seven  being  now  at  this  place,  where  we 
arrived  on  Sunday  night,  not  being  attacked  through  our  whole  march  by 
the  enemy,  though  we  expected  it  every  day.  Upon  the  whole,  had  our 
pilots  understood  the  situation  of  the  town,  and  the  paths  leading  to  it, so  as 
to  have  posted  us  at  a  convenient  place,  where  the  disposition  of  the  men 
and  the  duty  assigned  them  could  have  been  performed  with  greater  advan- 
tage, we  had,  with  Divine  assistance,  destroyed  a  much  greater  number  of 
the  enemy,  recovered  more  prisoners,  and  sustained  less  damage,  than  what 
we  at  present  have.  But.  the  advantage  gained  over  these,  our  common 
enemies,  is  far  from  being  satisfactory  to  us,  yet  we  must  not  despise  the 
smallest  degree  of  success  that  God  is  pleased  to  give,  especially  at  a  time 
when  the  attempts  of  our  enemies  have  been  so  prevalent  and  successful. 
I  am  sure  there  was  the  greatest  inclination  to  do  more,  had  ii  been  in  our 
power,  as  the  officers  and  most  of  the  soldiers,  throughout  the  whole  action, 
exerted  themselves  with  as  much  activity  and  resolution  as  could  possibly 
be  expected. 

Our  prisoners  inform  us  the  Indians  have  for  some  time  past  talked  of 
fortifying  at  the  Kittanning  and  other  towns.  That  the  number  of 
French  at  Fort  Duquesne  is  about  four  hundred.  That  the  principal  part 
of  their  provisions  came  up  the  river,  from  the  Mississippi  ;  and  that  in 
the  three  other  forts,  which  the  French  have  on  the  Ohio,  there  are  not 
more  men,  taken  together,  that  what  there  are  at  Fort  Duquesne. 

I  hope  as  soon  as  possible  to  receive  your  Honor's  instructions  with  re- 
gard to  the  distribution  or  stationing  of  the  sundry  companies,  in  this  bat- 
talion ;  and  as  a  number  of  the  men  are  now  wanting  in  each  of  the  com- 
panies whether  or  no  they  should  be  immediately  recruited,  and  if  the 
Sundry  officers  are  to  be  recruited,  that  money  be  speedily  sent  for  that 
purpose. 


M-*' 


^1 


pi:/ 


MSi 


,:l  ' 


34 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY, 


I  beg  the  favor  of  your  Honor,  ;  ■  soon  as  possible,  to  furnish  Governor 
Morris  with  a  copy  of  this  letter,  and  the  gentlemen  commissioners  for  the 
Province  another,  as  my  present  indisposition  neither  admits  me  to  write, 
or  dictate  any  more  at  this  time! 

In  case  a  quantity  of  ammunition  is  not  already  sent  to  Carlisle,  it  should 
be  sent  as  soon  as  possible  ;  and  also,  if  the  companies  are  to  be  recruited 
and  completed,  there  must  be  an  immediate  supply  of  about  three  hun- 
dred blankets,  exs  there  have  been  a  great  many  lost  in  the  present  expedi- 
tion. Enclosed  is  a  list  of  the  killed,  wounded,  and  missing  of  the  several 
companies.     1  e.xpect  to  get  to  Carlisle  in  about  four  days. 

Yours,  etc., 

John  Armstrong. 
To  Hon.  W.  Denny.* 


Armstrong's  losses  were  seventeen  killed,  thirteen 
wounded,  and  nineteen  missing.  The  prisoners  re- 
covered were  Mrs.  Anna  McCord,  Martha  Thorn, 
Barbara  Hicks,  Catherine  Smith,  Margaret  Hood, 
Thomas  Girty,  and  Sarah  Kelly,  besides  one  woman, 
a  boy,  and  two  little  girls  who  had  separated  with 
Captain  Mercer's  party  from  the  main  body,  and  had 
not  yet  arrived  at  Fort  Littleton  at  the  date  of  Arm- 
strong's report.  As  Captain  Mercer  afterwards  got 
in  safe,  it  it  presumed  these  prisoners  were  also  re- 
turned to  their  friends. 

Colonel  Armstrong's  successful  assault  upon  one 
of  the  enemy's  strongholds,  filled  the  colony  with 


*  Armstrong's  letter  is  here  copied  from  the  history  of  Western  Penn- 
sylvania, pp.  121-128.  It  m<».y  p'so  be  found  in  the  Pennsylvania  Archives, 
Vol.  II,  where  it  is  printed  from  the  original. 


DESTRUCTION   OF   KITTANNING. 


85 


vernor 
for  the 
>  write, 

;  should 
scruited 
ee  hun- 
expedi- 
e  several 


:rONG. 

hirteen 
\ers  re- 
Thorn, 
Hood, 
.voman, 
d  with 
nd  had 
f  Arm- 
rds  got 
ISO  re- 
Ion  one 
y  with 

rtt  Penn- 
Archives, 


great  rejoicing.  The  corporation  of  the  city  of 
Philadelphia  voted  him  and  his  gallant  officers  their 
thanks,  and  ordered  the  sum  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  pounds  to  be  paid  out  in  pieces  of  plate,  swords, 
or  other  things  suitable  for  presents  to  the  said 
officers  and  towards  the  relief  of  the  widows  and 
children  of  those  who  had  fallen,*  Armstrong  also 
received  a  silver  medal  commemorative  of  the  event. 
The  Indians  who  escaped  fled  to  Fort  Duquesne, 
where  they  related  the  disaster  that  had  befallen 
them.  M.  Dumas  at  once  reported  the  affair  to 
Vaudreuil,  the  governor-general.  His  report  is 
interesting,  as  showing  the  character  that  Washing- 
ton had  already  acquired  with  the  enemy.  The  next 
day  after  the  attack  on  Kittanning,  Dumas  writes 
that  **le  General  Wachinton  "  with  three  or  four 
hundred  men  on  horseback  attacked  Attique ;  that 
the  Indians  gave  way,  but  under  the  lead  of  five  or 
six  Frenchmen  who  were  in  the  town,  they  were 
soon  rallied  ;  that  Washington  and  his  men  then  took 
to  flight,  and  would  have  been  pursued,  but  for  the 
loss  of  some  barrels  of  gunpowder  that  had  been 
exploded  during  the  action,  f  How  nearly  the 
report  of  Dumas  corresponded  to  the  facts  in  the 

•  History  of  Western,  Pennsylvania,  p.  129. 

t  Parkman's  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  Chapter  XIII. 


I 

\ 


|H5 

[If 


;l     r  ,  1 


mmm-aT^jimw^- 


86 


THE    FRENCH    IN   THE    ALLEGHENY   VALLEY. 


case,  the  reader  can  perceive  for  himself.  As  Park- 
man  observes,  Dumas,  "like  other  officers  of  the 
day,  would  admit  nothing  but  success  in  the  depart- 
ment under  his  command." 


t 


ml 


THE    FALL   OF   FORT   DUQUESNE. 


8X 


irk- 

the 

)art- 


THE  FALL  OF  FORT  DUQUESNE. 

After  the  unfortunate  expedition  of  General  Brad- 
dock,  no  further  attempt  was  made  against  Fort 
Duquesne  until  1758.  In  the  summer  of  that  year  a 
new  expedition  was  set  on  foot.  The  enterprise  was 
put  under  the  command  of  General  John  Forbes,  a 
gallant  Scotch  officer.  Immediately  subordinate  to 
him  were  Colonel  Henry  Bouquet  and  Colonel  George 
Washington.  Forbes'  force  consisted  of  nearly  7,000 
men,  of  whon  t,200  were  Highlanders,  350  Royal 
Americans,  2,700  Pennsylvanians,  about  1,600  Vir- 
ginians, and  smaller  contingents  from  Maryland  and 
North  Carolina.* 

The  southern  troops  were  ordered  to  assemble  at 
Winchester,  Virginina,  under  Colonel  Washington, 
the  Pennsylvanians  at  Raystown,  now  Bedford.  To 
thij  latter  place  also  Colonel  Bouquet  marched   the 

*Sparks'  Writings  of  Washington,  Vol.  IL  p.  289,  note. 


liS 


88 


THE    FRENCH    IN   THE   ALLEGHENY   VALLEY. 


fc'^iS 


regulars,  in  advance  of  Forbes.*  The  general  was 
in  ill  health,  and  came  after  by  slow  stages.  In  July, 
Bouquet  was  at  Raystown ;  Washington  with  the 
main  body  of  his  troops,  arrived  at  about  the  same 
time  at  Fort  Cumberland,  where  he  remained  several 
weeks  engaged  in  cutting  and  repairing  roads,  and 
taking  such  steps  as  were  thought  necessary  to  the 
success  of  the  enterprise. 

Forbes,  for  some  reason,  determined  to  cut  a  new 
road  across  the  mountains,  instead  of  proceeding  by 
the  road  that  had  been  made  with  such  labor  a  few 
years  before  by  General  Braddock.  Washington 
strenuously  opposed  the  making  of  a  new  road,  for 
the  reasons,  as  he  urged,  "of  the  advanced  season, 
the  difficulty  of  cutting  a  new  road  over  the  mountains,, 
the  short  time  left  for  the  service,  the  moral  certainty 
of  its  obstructing  our  march,  and  the  consequent  mis- 
carriage of  the  expedition."  t  But  notwithstanding 
Washington's  earnest  opposition,  the  new  road  was 
made.  The  southern  troops  were  as  much  opposed 
as  their  leader  to  the  new  road.  A  soldier,  Robert 
Mumford,  writes  from  the  camp  near  Fort  Cumber- 
land, August  4,  1758: 


f 


♦History  of  Western  Pennsylvania,  p.  135. 
t  Sparks,  Vol.  II,  p.  311. 


.■:i|i 


^wmmx'--:^'' 


THE    FALL   OF   FORT   DUQUESNE. 


89 


was 

uly, 
,  the 
same 
jvctal 
5,  and 
to  the 


a  new 
Ung  by 
)r  a  few 
hington 

oad,  for 
season, 
)untains,. 
:ertainty 
ent  mis- 
standing, 
oad  was 
opposed 
,  Robert 
Cumber- 


A  few  hearty  prayers  are  every  minute  offered  up  for  those  self-interested 
Pennsylvanians  who  endeavor  to  prevail  on  our  general  to  cut  a  road  for 
their  convenience,  from  Raystovvn  to  Fort  Duquesne,  that  a  trifling  good 
to  particulars  should  retard  what  would  conduce  to  the  general  welfare  I 
'Tis  a  set  of  d.-riy  Dutchmen,  they  say,  that  keeps  ui  here.  It  would  be 
impertinent  to  condemn,  yet  I  must  think  our  leaders  too  deliberate  at  this 
important  juncture,  when  all  are  warm  for  action,  all  breathing  revenge 
against  an  enemy  that  have  even  dared  to  scalp  our  men  before  our  eyes.f 

Washington  has  been  charged  with  having  favored 
the  old  road  only  through   sectional  prejudice  ;    but 
in  a  letter  to  his  old  friend,  Major  Halket,  of  Gen- 
eral Forbes'  staff,   in    speaking  of  this  very   matter, 
he  says:     "  I  am  uninfluenced  by  prejudice,  having 
no  hopes  or  fears  but  for  the  general  good.      Of  this 
you  may  be  assured,  and  that  my  sincere  sentiments 
are  spoken  on  this  occasion."     We  presume  Wash- 
ington's  word   is   sufficient.      His    stand    was    the 
correct  one  from  a  military  point  of  view.     The  delay 
in  the  long  run   may  have  proved  an  advantage  to 
Forbes  in  the  way  of  exhausting  the  patience  of  the 
enemy,  and  causing  the  withdrawal  of  the  red  men 
to  their  homes  ;  but  that  was  clearly  only  incidental, 
and  could  not    have   formed  any  part  of  his  plan. 
Though  the  expedition  was  finally  successful,  it  had 
well  nigh  failed,  just  as  Washington  feared  it  would  ; 
and  it  was  saved  from  failure  almost  entirely  through 

t  See  The  Olden  Time.  Vol.  I.  p.  285. 


"iC"  A« 


l';!l 


^o 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


his  exertions.  The  new  road  had  no  point  of  con- 
tact with  Braddock's.  Forbes'  road  proceeded  right 
along  in  a  generally  northwestern  direction  from  Rays- 
town  to  Fort  Duquesne  ;  Braddock's  road  was  far 
south  of  this,  and  they  approached  nearest  at  Turtle 
Creek,  where  they  came  within  five  or  six  miles  of 
each  other. 

The  news  of  Forbes'  expedition  was  early  and 
widely  diffused  through  the  western  wilds.  The 
Indians  were  still  faithful  to  their  French  allies. 
James  Smith,  who  had  been  adopted  by  them,  was  at 
Detroit  at  this  time.  He  relates  that  upon  receiving 
the  news  of  the  expedition,  the  French  commander 
at  Detroit  sent  off  runners  to  apprise  the  tribes,  and 
urge  them  to  repair  to  Fort  Duquesne.  In  July  a 
general  rendezvous  of  Indians — Ottavvas,  Jibewas, 
Potav/atomies,  and  Wyandots  was  made  at  Detroit, 
and  shortly  afterwards  they  marched  off  to  Fort 
Duquesne.* 

Forbes'  movements  were  very  slow,  and  he  did 
not  reach  Raystown  until  the  middle  of  September. 
Washington  came  up  from  Fort  Cumberland  with  his 
command  and  joined  him  here.  From  Raystown  to 
Loyaihanna,  where  Ligonier  now  stands,  a  distance 

*  See  Colonel  James  Smith's  Narrative  in  Drake's  Indian  Captivities, 
P-  233- 


.     // 


.^iSk  -  >-S^  ?y^  n-^'^ttVSii^ 


THE    FALl    OF    FORT    DUQUESNK. 


91 


;on- 

ight 

.ays- 
.s  far 
'artle 
.es  of 


:    ,? 


of  about  fifty  miles,  the  road  had  been  opened  by 
Colonel  James  IJurd.  Upon  his  arrival  at  Loyal- 
hanna,  Colonel  Burd  built  a  small  stockade  fort, 
which  was  afterward  called  Fort  Ligonier.  Forbes' 
health  continued  to  decline,  and  he  had  to  be  carried 
throuj^h  the  wilderness  in  a  litter.  He  was  fifty  days 
in  getting  from  Raystown  to  Loyalhanna.  Meantime, 
Washington  chafed  with  impatience.  "  We  shall 
be  stopped  at  the  Laurel  Hill  this  winter,"  he  writes, 
"but  not  to  gather  laurels ^  except  of  the   kind  that 

covers  the  mountains."  f  The  season  had  advanced 
into  the  month  of  November  before  Forbes  had  ar- 
rived at  Loyalhanna.  There  remained  still  fifty  miles 
of  wilderness  to  be  traversed  before  he  could  reach 
Fort  Duquesne.  The  rigor  of  an  early  winter  was 
already  setting  in.  The  forebodings  of  Washington 
seemed  on  the  eve  of  realization.  The  expedition 
was  to  be  a  failure.  At  a  council  of  war  that  was 
called,  upon  Forbes'  arrival  at  Lo)'allianna,  it  was 
determined  to  go  into  winter  quarters  at  that  point. 
A  circumstance,  slight  in  itself,  shortly  afterward 
caused  this  decision  to  be  recalled,  and  an  advance 
movement  to  be  made. 

Before  the  arrival  of  Forbes  at  Loyalhanna,  Colo- 
nel Bouquet  had  sent  forward  Major  Grant  with  a 

+  Sparks,  Vol.  II.  p.  301. 


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92 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


i  il 


I  I' 


detachment  of  eight  hundred  men,  mostly  Highlan- 
ders* of  Montgomery's  division,  and  Virginians  of 
Colonel  Washington's  regiment,  to  make  a  reconnoi- 
sance  of  the  fort.  Grant  conducted  the  movement 
very  successfully,  and  in  the  night  of  the  thirteenth 
of  September  he  reached  the  hill  just  back  of  Fort 
Duquesne.  His  approach  had  not  been  discovered 
by  the  enemy.  He  had  been  informed  that  the  gar- 
rison was  in  a  very  feeble  condition  ;  he  did  not  knew 
that  large  reinforcements  under  D'Aubry  had  very 
recently  arrived  ^rom  the  west.  Grant  was  inflamed 
with  the  thought  of  capturing  the  place  himself.  At 
daybreak  of  the  fourteenth  of  September,  he  stood 
on  the  hill  which  is  still  called  by  his  name,  in  plain 
view  of  the  fort.  Instead,  however,  of  concentra- 
ting his  troops  to  make  an  assault  or  withstand  an 
attack,  he  dispersed  them  in  bodies  in  a  most  unac- 
countable manner,  to  different  parts  of  the  neighbor- 
hood. Captain  Thomas  Bullitt  had  been  left  with  a 
party  of  Virginians  two  miles  in  the  rear,  to  guard 
the  baggage.  Colonel  Lewis  was  now  sent  back  v/ith 
a  detachment  to  join  Bullitt.     A  party  of  Pennsyl- 

*  The  Highlanders  in  the  King's  service  in  the  French  and  Indian  war 
were  almost  exterminated,  "Of  the  old  Highland  regiment,  consisting 
of  twelve  hundred,  only  seventy-six  survived  to  see  their  country  again." 
Dr.  Johnson's  Journey  to  the  Wei.ern  Islands  of  Scotland :  "  Ostig  in 
Skv." 


THE    FALL    OF    FORT    DUQUESNE. 


93 


tn- 

of 
loi- 
lent 
;nth 
Fort 
ered 

gar- 
knew 

very 
Earned 

.f.     At 
f  stood 

I  plain 

centra- 

and  an 

t  unac- 

ighbor- 

with  a 

guard 

ck  v/ith 

ennsyl- 

Indian  war 
_  consislir.R 
iuy  again." 
.  "  OstiRi'^ 


vanians  were  posted  away  off  on  the  right  towards 
the  Allegheny;  Captain  MLckenzie,  with  a  body  of 
Highlanders,  was  sent  off  towards  the  left,  while 
Captain  Macdonald,  with  another  party  of  Highlan- 
ders, was  ordered  into  the  open  plain  in  front  of  the 
fort.  Grant  himself  remained  on  the  hill  with  a 
small  portion  of  his  own  regiment  and  a  company  of 
Maryland  inen.^  The  party  under  Captain  Macdon- 
ald approached  the  fort  with  the  bag-pipes  in  full 
blast  and  the  drnrns  beating,  as  an  invitation  to  the 
enemy  to  come  out  of  his  stronghold.  The  enemy 
accepted  the  invitation  very  readily,  and  swarmed 
out  in  overwhelming  numbers.  They  fell  upon  one 
detachment  of  Grant's  army  after  another,  killing  and 
wounding  a  great  many,  and  utterly  defeating  them. 
A  number  in  attempting  to  make  their  escape  were 
drowned  in  the  river.  Grant  himself  was  taken 
prisoner.  Colonel  Lewis,  hearing  the  state  of  affairs, 
now  hurried  forward  tc  the  assistance  of  Grant,  but 
only  to  share  the  same  fate.  Grant's  men  fell  rapidly 
back  to  where  Captain  Bullitt  was  guarding  the  bag- 
gage. But  for  the  gallant  stand  made  by  the  Vir- 
ginians under  his  command,    Grant's    army   would 

*Parkman  s  Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  Chapter  XXII.  For  Grant's  conduct 
at  Fort  Duque?ne,  see  also  a  letter  dated  at  Annapolis,  October,  5,  1758, 
reprinted  from  the  Pennsylvania  Gazette  in  The  OUUn  Time,  Volume  L 
P-I79. 


'  S  '  ' 


^^\, 


'.  -r  ■'■' 


I't 


THE    FRENCH    IN   THE    ALLEGHENY    VALLEY. 

have  been  annihilated.  The  Virginians  covered  the 
retreat,  and  brought  the  exultant  enemy  to  bay. 
"Our  officers  and  men,"  wrote  Washington  to  Gov- 
ernor Fauquier,  "have  gained  very  great  applause 
for  their  gallant  behavior  during  the  action.  I  had 
the  honor  to  be  publicly  complimented  yesterday  by 
the  general  on  the  occasion.  Bullitt's  behavior  is 
matter  for  great  admiration."  Grant's  loss  was  273 
men.  Of  the  prisoners,  five  were  surrendered  by  the 
French  officers  to  the  savages  to  be  burned  at  the 
stake,  and  other,>  were  cruelly  tomaha'vked  on  the 
spot.* 

The  Indians  had  boasted  that  they  would  bag 
Forbes'  army  as  they  had  done  Braddock's,  and  they 
were  much  mortified  when  they  found  that  they  had 
permitted  Grant  to  reach  the  fort  unperceived.  But 
his  peculiar  tactics  in  front  of  the  fort  puzzled  them, 
and  they  could  account  for  his  conduct  in  only  one 
way.  "  When  Tccaughrctanego  had  heard  the  par- 
ticulars of  Grant's  defeat,"  says  James  Smith,  "he said 
that  he  could  not  well  acount  for  his  contradictory 
and  inconsistent  conduct.  He  said,  as  the  art  of  war 
consists  in  ambushing  and  surprising  our  enemies, 
and  in  preventing  them  from  ambushing  and  surpris- 
ing us,  Grant,  in  the  first  place,  acted  like  a  wise  and 

*  Captain  Haslet  to  Rev.  Dr.  Alison,  November  26,  1758. 


THE    FALL   OF   FORT   DUQUESNF. 


95 


the 
ay. 

rOV- 

luse 

had 

yby 

or  is 

5  273 

)y  the 
at  the 
.n  the 


experienced  warrior  in  artfully  approaching  in  the 
night  without  being  discovered  ;  but  when  he  came 
to  the  place,  and  the  Indians  were  lying  asleep  out- 
side of  the  fort,  betweeii  him  and  the  Allegheny  river, 
in  place  of  slipping  up  quietly  and  falling  upon  them 
with  their  broadswords,  they  beat  the  drums  and 
played  upon  the  bagpipes.  He  said  he  could  account 
for  this  inconsistent  conduct  in  no  other  way  than  by 
supposing  that  he  had  made  too  free  with  spirituous 
liquors  during  the  night,  and  became  intoxicated 
about  daylight."^ 

The  French  promptly  retaliated  Grant's  attempt 
upon  Fort  Duquesne,  by  appearing  before  the  camp 
at  Loyalhanna.  On  the  twelfth  of  October  they 
attacked  the  place.  They  were  about  fourteen  hun- 
dred strong,  and  were  commanded  by  De  Vetri.  The 
assault  upon  the  post  was  continued  for  about  four 
hours,  with  great  fury  and  determination  ;  but  the 
enemy  was  at  length  compelled  to  retire  with  consid- 
erable loss.  After  nightfall  the  attack  was  renewed, 
but  a  few  well  directed  shells  thrown  among  them 
had  the  effect  of  dispersing  them.  Bouquet's  loss 
was  sixty-seven  men  killed  and  wounded. -f* 


*  Colonel  James  Smith's  Narrative,  p.  234. 

+  History  of  Western  Pennsylvania,  pp.  138,  139,  note. 


H 


"'W' 


I 


96 


THE    FRENCH    IN   THE    ALLEGHENY   VALLEY, 


i: 


After  this  unsuccessful  affair,  the  Indians  gave  up 
the  idea  of  destroying  the  army  of  Forbes  as  they 
had  destroyed  that  of  Braddock.  They  said  that  the 
enemy  was  beginning  to  understand  the  art  of  war, 
that  there  were  a  great  many  American  riflemen 
along  with  the  red-coats,  who  scattered  out,  took 
trees,  and  were  good  marksmen.  The  French  tried 
to  prevail  upon  them  to  remain  and  try  another  bat- 
tle, but  they  refused.  "The  Indians  said  if  it  was 
only  the  red-coats  they  had  to  do  with,"  says  Colonel 
Smith,  "they  could  soon  subdue  them,  but  they 
could  not  withstand  Ashalecoa,  or  the  Great  Knife, 
which  was  the  name  they  gave  the  Virginians." 

The  slight  circumstance  that  caused  Forbes  to 
reconsider  his  determination  to  winter  at  Loyalhanna, 
and  decide  to  make  an  onward  movement,  was  the 
capture  of  three  prisoners.  These  prisoners  con- 
firmed the  report  of  the  feeble  condition  of  the  garri- 
son at  Fort  Duquesne.  The  western  Indians  had 
returned  to  their  homes.  The  Indians  of  the  neigh- 
borhood had  been  shaken  in  their  loyalty  to  the 
French,  mainly  through  the  efforts  of  Christian 
Frederick  Post.  The  French  reinforcements  had 
also  returned  to  their  former  quarters.  De  Ligneris, 
at  Fort  Duquesne,  found  himself  reduced  to  but 
about  five  huiidred  men. 


I., 


THE    FALL   OF   FORT   pUQUESNE. 


97 


up 
hey 
the 
ATar, 
men 
took 
tried 

bat- 
t  was 
Dlonel  - 

they 
Knife, 


Forbes  determined  upon  a  rapid  movement.  On 
the  eighteenth  of  November  a  picked  force  of  2500 
men  set  forward.  The  bagg  ge,  stores,  wagons,  and 
all  the  artillery  except  a  few  light  pieces,  were  left 
behind.  The  soldiers  carried  only  their  knapsacks 
and  blankets.  Washington  solicited  for  his  Virginians 
the  place  of  danger  and  honor  in  the  front.  "  If  any 
argument  is  needed  to  obtain  this  favor,"  he  urged, 
"  I  hope  without  vanity  I  may  be  allowed  to  say, 
that,  from  long  intimacy  with  these  woods,  and  fre- 
quent scouting  in  them,  my  men  are  at  least  as  well 
acquainted  with  all  the  passes  and  difficulties  as  any 
troops  that  will  be  employed."*  His  request  was 
granted,  and  he  led  his  regiment  forward  to  open 
the  road,  and  act  as  pioneers  to  the  main  body  of 
the  army. 

On  the  twenty-fourth  of  November  the  army 
reached  Turtle  Creek,  within  ten  miles  of  Fort  Du- 
quesne,  where  they  encamped.  In  the  night  a  violent 
explosion  was  heard  to  the  westward,  which  indicated 
either  some  serious  accident,  or  some  desperate  step 
on  the  part  of  the  enemy.  The  spirits  of  the  men 
revived,  and  they  looked  forward  eagerly  to  the  con- 
summation of  their  arduous  toils  the  next  day.  In  the 
morning  a  dense  cloud  of  smoke  in   the  direction  of 


Sparks,  Vol,  I,  p.  99. 


r 


THE    FRENCH    IN   THE    ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 

Fort  Duquesne  indicated  that  the  enemy  had  set  the 
buildings  on  fire,  and  a  party  of  horsemen  were  sent 
on  in  advance  to  extinguish  the  flames.  The  army 
also  resumed  its  march,  but  it  was  not  until  evening 
that  they  emerged  from  the  forests  upon  the  open 
plain  in  front  of  Fort  Duquense.  Instead  of  a 
frowning  fortress  they  found  only  a  smoking  ruin. 
The  enemy  had  fled.  The  magazine  had  been  ex- 
ploded the  evening  before,  and  the  buildings  set  on 
fire,*  Only  blackened  and  smoking  ruins  were  left 
to  welcome  them.  But  that  was  enough.  The 
cheers  of  the  rejoicing  soldiers  woke  the  echoes,  and 
the  hand  of  the  gallant  Colonel  Armstrong,  the  hero 
of  Kittanning,  raised  the  banner  of  King  George 
upon  the  staff  from  which  had  long  floated  the  ensign 
of  France.  Three  days  later  Washington  wrote  to 
Governor  Fauquier  :  I  have  the  pleasure  to  inform 
you  that  Fort  Duquesne,  or  the  ground  rather  on 
which  it  stood,  was  possessed  by  his  majesty's  troops 
on  the  24th  instant.  The  enemy,  after  letting  us 
get  within  a  day's  march  of  the  place,  burnt  the  fort 


*  Three  days  before  this  the  French  had  uncovered  the  houses  at  Fort 
Duquesne,  and  laid  the  roofs  around  the  fort  to  set  it  on  tire,  and  made 
ready  to  go  off. —See  Post's  Second  Journal,  November  22,  1758. 


THE    FALL   OF   FORT    DUQUESNE. 


99 


and  ran  away  by  the  light  of  it,  at  night,  going  down 
the  Ohio  by  water,  f 

The  fall  ot  Fort  Duquesne  caused  great  rejoicing 
on  the  borders  of  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia.  It 
was  impossible  that  there  should  be  peace  or  security 
on  the  frontier  so  long  as  it  remained  in  the  hands  of 
the  enemy.  "The  great  advantages  that  will  attend 
this  success  of  his  majesty's  arms,"  wrote  Governor 
Denny  of  Pennsylvania,  "will  be  sensibly  felt  by 
all  the  British  colonies,  but  none  so  much  as  this 
province,  whose  inhabitants  have  been  the  most  ex- 
posed to  the  incursions  and  cruelties  of  the  French 
and  their  allies,  froui  lat  quarter."  The  fall  of 
this  renowned  strongh'^  destroyed  the  influence  of 
the  French  in  that  region,  and  secured  to  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race  the  domination  of  the  Ohio  valley  for  all 
time  to  come. 


f  Sparks,  Vol.  IL,  p.  320, 


ffm 


liiiaiiir 


100 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


FORT  PITT. 


The  day  following  the  fall  of  Fort  Duquesne  was 
observed  by  Forbes'  army  as  a  day  of  public 
thanksgiving  for  their  success.  Two  days  later,  a 
detachment  proceeded  to  the  field  that  had  witnessed 
Braddock's  defeat,  to  inter  the  remains  of  those  who 
had  fallen  in  the  great  disaster.  The  field  presented 
a  ghastly  appearance.  **  Here  and  there,"  says  Ban- 
croft, "a  skeleton  was  found  resting  on  the  trunk  of 
a  fallen  tree,  as  if  a  wounded  man  had  sunk  down  in 
the  attempt  to  fly.  In  some  places  wolves  and  crows 
had  left  signs  of  their  ravages  ;  in  others,  the  black- 
ness of  ashes  marked  the  scene  of  the  revelry  of 
cannibals.  The  trees  still  showed  branches  rent  by 
cannon ;  trunks  dotted  with  musket  balls.  Where 
the  havoc  had  been  the  fiercest,  bones  lay  whit- 
ening in  confusion.  None  could  be  recognized, 
except  that  the  son  of  Sir  Peter  Halket  was  called 
by  the    shrill   whistle    of    a    savage    to    the   great 


FORT   PITT. 


lOI 


tree  near  which  his  father  and  his  brother  had 
been  seen  to  fall  together ;  and  while  Benjamin  West 
and  a  company  of  Pennsylvanians  formed  a  circle 
around,  the  Indians  removed  the  thick  covering  of 
leaves  till  they  bared  the  relics  of  the  youth  lying 
across  those  of  the  older  officer.  The  frames  of  the 
two  thus  united  in  death  were  wrapped  in  a  High- 
land plaid  and  consigned  to  one  separate  grn,ve, 
amidst  the  ceremonies  that  belong  to  the  burial  of 
the  brave.  The  bones  of  the  undistinguished  multi- 
tude, more  than  four  hundred  and  fifty  in  number, 
were  indiscriminately  cast  into  the  ground,  no  one 
knowing  for  whom  specially  to  weep.  The  chilling 
gloom  of  the  forest  at  the  coming  of  winter,  the  reli- 
gious awe  that  mastered  the  savages,  the  grief  of  the 
son  fainting  at  the  fearful  recognition  of  his  father, 
the  group  of  soldiers  sorrowing  over  the  ghastly 
ruins  of  an  army,  formed  a  sombre  scene  of  deso- 
lation, "f 

The  first  necessity  of  the  time  was  a  place  of  shelter 
and  defence  for  the  troops.  Accordingly,  a  small 
stockade  fort  was  built  near  the  bank  of  the  Monon- 
gahela,  several  hundred  yards  above  the  ruins  of  Fort 
Duquesne.  This  fortification  was  named  Fort  Pitt, 
and  the  place  was  named   Pittsburg.     It  took  this 

t  Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  IV.  p.  312. 


h 


it 


I02 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


.I'll 


name  from  the  start,  as  we  find  Christian  Frederick 
Post  referring  to  it  by  this  designation  within  a  few 
days  after  the  English  occupation.*  Two  hundred 
Virginia  troops  were  directed  to  remain  as  a  garrison, 
by  the  express  orders  of  General  Forbes.  Washing- 
ton opposed  this  on  the  ground  that  his  men  had 
already  done  their  full  share  of  duty  in  the  campaign ; 
but  Forbes  said  he  had  no  authority  to  leave  any  of 
his  majesty's  troops  for  this  purpose,  and,  as  the  site 
of  the  fort  was  then  generally  believed  to  be  within 
the  borders  of  Virginia,  it  was  only  proper  that  Vir- 
ginia troops  should  hold  the  place. f  Colonel  Hugh 
Mercer,  of  Virginia,  a  Scotchman  by  birth,  who  after- 
ward laid  down  his  life  at  Princeton,  during  the  Revo- 
lutionary war,  was  left  in  command  of  the  garrison  at 
Fort  Pitt.  General  Forbes  shortly  afterwards  set  out 
on  his  return  to  the  east.  His  health  continued  very 
feeble,  and  he  was  borne  in  a  litter,  as  he  had  come. 
He  arrived  in  Philadelphia  on  the  seventeenth  of  Jan- 
uary, 1759,  and  died  there  on  the  eleventh  of  the 
following  March.  His  remains  were  interred  in  the 
chancel  of  Christ  Church.|  He  had  been  bred  a 
physician ;    but   afterward    turned    his   attention   to 


*  "  We  came  within  eight  miles  of  Pittsburg,  where  we  lodged  on  a  hill 
in  the  open  air." — Post's  Journal,  December  2,  1758. 


+  Sparks'  Writings  of  Washington,  Vol.  I.  p.  102. 
X  Craig's  History  of  Pittsburg,  p.  79. 


FORT   PITT. 


103 


lerick 

a  few 

ndred 

rrison, 

ishing- 

m  had 

ipaign ; 

any  of 

the  site 

I  within 

iiat  Vir- 

i\  Hugh 

ho  after- 

le  Revo- 

irison  at 

s  set  out 

aed  very 
id  come, 
li  of  Jan- 
h  of  the 
;d  in  the 
bred  a 
ntion  to 

zed  on  a  hill 


military  affairs,  and  rose  to  the  position  of  brigadier- 
general  in  his  majesty's  service.  He  was  brave  and 
capable ;  but  in  the  campaign  against  Fort  Duquesne 
he  had  labored  throughout  under  a  painful  disease, 
which  rendered  it  almost  impossible  at  times  for  him 
to  move  at  all,  and  under  which  almost  any  other 
man  would  have  resigned  the  toils  and  responsibili- 
ties of  so  grave  a  duty. 

The  fall  of  Fort  Duquesne  had  an  immediate  effect 
upon  the  Indians.  The  Delawares  at  once  began  to 
sue  for  peace.  Washington,  writing  from  the  camp, 
November  28,  says:  "A  trade,  free,  open,  and  on 
equitable  terms,  is  what  they  seem  much  to  desire." 
About  the  beginning  of  December,  Washington  set 
out  on  his  return  to  Virginia,  and  he  writes  to  Gov- 
ernor Fauquier,  from  Loyalhanna,  December  2,  that 
"  unless  the  most  effectual  means  shall  be  taken  early 
in  the  spring  to  reinforce  the  garrison,  the  place  will 
inevitably  be  lost,  and  then  our  frontiers  will  fall  into 
the  same  distressed  condition  as  heretofore.  I  can 
very  confidently  assert  that  we  never  can  secure  them 
properly,  if  we  again  lose  our  footing  on  the  Ohio, 
since  we  shall  thereby  lose  the  interest  of  the  In- 
dians."* Washington  proceeded  to  Mt.  Vernon  and 
thence  to  Williamsburg,  while  his  troops  marched  to 

♦  Sparks,  Vol.  II.  p.  323. 


rll 


3'    V 


f\ 


104 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLECxHENY  VALLEY. 


4 
I 


1  ^S' 


i   I! 
1  ;| 


i 


f^ii 


"I 


Winchester,  where  they  went  into  winter  quarters. 
Washington  received  unqualified  praise  from  all 
sources  for  his  services  and  soldierly  conduct  during 
this  campaign. 

Colonel  Bouquet  v/as  appointed  to  the  charge  of 
afi^irs  on  the  border.  He  established  and  maintained 
posts  at  Raystown,  Loyalhanna,  and  Fort  Pitt,  and 
later  extended  the  line  on  westward  to  Sandusky 
and  Detroit.  The  original  Fort  Pitt  was  finished  about 
the  first  of  January,  1759.  It  was  but  a  temporary 
structure.  The  French  and  Indians  had  not  retreated 
far  :  some  had  gone  down  the  river  to  the  villages  on 
the  Beaver,  and  the  rest  had  retired  to  the  posts  at 
Venango  and  LeBoeuf.  They  maintained  a  threat- 
ening attitude  towards  Fort  Pitt,  and  the  little  garri- 
son crouching  behind  the  feeble  bulwarks,  were  in 
daily  apprehension  of  attack.  Only  the  inclemency 
of  the  season  saved  them. 

Upon  the  death  of  General  Forbes,  General  John 
Stanwiy  was  appointed  as  his  successor.  General 
Stanwix  arrived  at  Fort  Pitt  in  the  early  summer  of 
1759.  Under  his  direction  a  more  secure  fortification 
was  made — a  fort  was  erected  which,  in  the  language 
of  a  letter  of  that  day,  would,  "to  latest  posterity, 
secure  the  British  empire  on  the  Ohio."  This  work 
is  said  to  have  cost  the  government  the  sum  of  sixty 


FORT  PITT. 


105 


rters. 
^  all 
luring 

rge  of 
itained 
tt,  and 
ndusky 
d  about 
nporary 
etreated 
lages  on 
posts  at 
threat- 
[tle  garri- 
were  in 
lemency 


thousand  pounds  sterling.     This  is  mraifestly  greatly 
exaggerated. 

Many  Indians  of  different  nations  canne  in  during 
that  summer,  to  confirm  the  peace  with  the  English. 
They  "  confessed  the  errors  they  had  been  led  into 
by  the  perfidy  of  the  French  ;  showed  the  deepest 
contrition  for  their  past  conduct,  and  promised  not 
only  to  remain  fast  friends  to  the  English,  but  to 
assist  us  in  distressing  the  common  enemy  whenever 
we  should  call  on  them  to  do  it."* 

From  a  letter  dated  at  Pittsburg,  March  21,  1760, 
we  learn  that  the  new  and  more  formidable  Fort  Pitt 
was  by  that  time  "perfected."  The  works  extended 
"from  the  Ohio  to  the  Monongahela,  and  eighteen 
pieces  of  artillery  mounted  on  the  bastions  that  cover 
the  isthmus  ;  and  casements,  barracks,  and  store- 
houses are  also  completed  for  a  garrison  of  one  thou- 
sand men  and  officers,  so  that  it  may  now  be  asserted 
with  very  great  truth,  that  the  British  dominion  is 
established  on  the  Ohio."  To  describe  the  fort 
more  particularly,  it  was  a  five-sided  work,  though 
the  sides  were  not  all  equal.  The  earth  around  the 
proposed  work  was  dug  and  thrown  up  so  as  to 
enclose  the  selected  position  with  a  rampart  of  earth. 
On  the  two  sides  facing  the  country,    this  rampart 

*  Craig's  History  of  Pittsburg,  p.  84. 


io6 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


Il^ 


;» % 


n 


'i 


was  supported  by  what  miiitary  men  call  a  reveUnent 
— a  brick  work,  nearly  perpendicular,  supporting  the 
rampart  on  the  outside,  and  thus  presenting  an  obsta- 
cle to  the  enemy  not  easily  overcome.  On  the  other 
three  sides,  the  earth  in  the  rampart  had  no  support, 
and  of  course  it  presented  a  more  inclined  surface  to 
the  enemy — one  which  could  readily  be  ascended. 
To  remedy,  in  some  degree,  this  defect  in  the  work, 
a  line  of  pickets  was  fixed  on  the  outside  of  the  foot 
of  the  slope  of  the  rampart.  Around  the  whole  work 
was  a  wide  ditch  which  would  of  course  be  filled  with 
water  when  the  river  was  at  a  moderate  stage.*  In 
April,  1760,  General  Stanwix  returned  to  Philadelphia. 
The  garrison  then  at  Fort  Pitt  consisted  of  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  Virginians,  one  hundred  and  fifty 
Pennsylvanians,  and  four  hundred  Royal  Americans, 
all  commanded  by  Major  Tulikens. 

While  the  work  of  building  Fort  Pitt  was  going  on, 
the  garrison  there  had  not  been  assailed  by  the 
French.  But  they  had  been  in  great  danger  of  an 
attack.  In  the  summer  of  1759  all  tho  necessary 
preparations  had  been  made  at  Venango  for  a  de- 
scent upon  Fort  Pitt.  Two  Indian  spies,  who  had 
returned  from  Venango  on  the  fifteenth  of  July,  re- 
ported to  Colonel  Mercer  that  there  were  at  Venango 

•  The  Olden  Time,  Vol.  I.  p.  196. 


i,  ;i 


FORT   PITT. 


107 


'tfnent 
\gthe 
obsta- 
I  other 
pport, 
face  to 
ended. 
I  work, 
be  foot 
)le  work 
Jed  with 
*     In 


^e- 


idelphia. 
ne  hun- 
nd   fifty 
.lericans, 


joing  on, 
by  the 
Iger  of  an 
ecessary 
for  a  de- 
who  had 
July,  re- 
Venango 


about  seven  hundred  French  and  four  hundred  In- 
dians. Six  hundred  more  Indians  were  expected 
very  soon.  In  fact,  these  reinforcements  had  mostly 
arrived,  artillery  and  provisions  were  collected,  and 
all  the  preparations  were  completed  for  the  descent, 
when  a  message  from  the  north  caused  a  stop  to  be 
put  to  the  proceedings.  "  I  have  had  bad  news, "  said 
the  commandant  to  the  Indians  ;  **  the  English  have 
gone  against  Niagara.  We  must  give  over  thoughts 
of  going  down  the  river  till  we  have  cleared  that 
place  of  the  enemy.  If  it  is  taken,  our  road  to  you 
is  stopped  and  you  must  become  poor." 

This  expected  attack  filled  the  feeble  garrison  at 
Fort  Pitt  with  great  forebodings.  "  I  must  own," 
wrote  Mr.  John  Ormsby,  one  of  the  garrison,  **  I 
made  my  sincere  application  to  the  Almighty  to 
pardon  my  sins  and  extricate  us  from  this  deplorable 
dilemma.  Our  prayers  were  heard,  and  we  extri- 
cated from  the  dreadful  massacre  ;  for  the  day  before 
the  expected  attack  an  Indian  fellow  arrived  from 
Niagara,  informing  Colonel  Mercer  that  General 
Johnson  laid  siege  to  Niagara  with  a  formidable  En- 
glish army,  so  that  the  attack  upon  Fort  Pitt  was 
countermanded,  and  the  French  and  Indians  ordered 
to  return  towards  Niagara  with  the  utmost  haste."* 

•  See  Craig's  History  of  Pittsburg,  p.  83. 


jj'.'i  El* 


dH^'^ 


■.j.ujmmmmm. 


i; 


io8 


,THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


N       '*  1 


,:»f 
t(,i 


ifii: 
.i2 


This  investment  of  Niagara  was  made  by  the  English 
under  General  Prideaux  and  Sir  William  Johnson. 
D'Aubry  collected  a  force  of  about  twelve  hundred 
men  from  Detroit,  Erie,  LeBoeuf,  and  Venango,  and 
hurried  off  to  the  aid  of  the  French  ;  but  tl'  "y  were 
met  by  the  English,  beaten  in  a  severe  battle  and 
dispersed.  On  the  twenty-fifth  of  July,  Fort  Niagara 
was  surrendered  to  the  English,  and  the  French 
power  in  western  New  York  and  the  Ohio  valley  was 
destroyed.  Thereafter  there  was  no  danger  to  Fort 
Duquesne  from  that  source.  The  victory  of  the 
British  at  Niagara  was  so  decisive  that  the  officer  and 
troops  sent  by  General  Stanwix  from  Pittsburg  took 
possession  of  the  French  posts  as  far  as  Erie  without 
resistance.*  One  point  after  another  was  lost  by  the 
French,  until  their  authority  in  North  America  was 
laid  prostrate  in  the  dust.  Finally,  in  February, 
1763,  a  treaty  of  peace  was  made  at  Paris.  By  this 
treaty  it  was  stipulated  :  "  That  France  shall  cede 
to  Great  Britain,  Canada  in  its  utmost  extent  ,with 
the  islands  of  St.  John  and  Cape  Breton,  and  all  that 
part  of  Louisiana  which  lies  on  this  side  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, except  the  town  of  New  Orleans  and  its 
territory,  "t 

*  Bancroft's  U.  S.,  Vol.  IV,  p.  322. 

+  Russell's  Modern  Europe,  Vol.  II,  p.  576. 


'II 


FORT    PITT. 


109 


gUsh 

ison. 

idred 

),  and 

•  were 

e  and 

iagara 

^rench 

ey  was 

:o  Fort 

of  the 

cer  and 

rg  took 

without 
by  the 
ica  was 
:bruary, 
By  this 

lall  cede 
lilt  ,with 
all  that 
[he  Mis- 
and  its 


The  garrison  at  Fort  Pitt  was  continued  until  the 
year  1772.  "  As  the  difficulties  between  the  mother 
country  and  the  colonies  increased,"  say;^  Craig, 
**  the  British  government  deemed  it  advisable  to 
order  the  abandonment  of  Fort  Pitt,  and  the  with- 
drawal of  the  troops  from  this  place."  Consequently, 
in  October^  ^772,  Major  Charles  Edmonston,  in 
behalf  of  the  Crown,  "for  and  in  consideration  of 
the  sum  of  fifty  pounds.  New  York  currency,  to  him 
in  hand  paid,"  sold  to  Alexander  Ross  and  William 
Thompson,  "all  the  pickets,  bricks,  stones,  timber, 
and  iron,  which  are  now  in  the  buildings  or  walls  of 
the  said  fort,  and  in  the  redoubts."  *  After  the  sale 
and  abandoment  of  Fort  Pitt,  a  corporal  and  three 
men  remained  for  some  time  to  take  care  of  the  boats 
and  batteaux  intended  to  keep  up  communication 
with  the  Illinois  country.  The  fort  being  thus 
abandoned,  one  John  Connolly,  a  man  of  much 
energy  and  talent,  but  without  principle,  came  up 
from  Virginia,  about  the  end  of  the  year  1773  or 
beginning  of  1774,  having  authority  from  Lord 
Dunmore,  the  governor  of  Virginia,  and  took  pos- 
session of  the  fort,  calling  it  Fort  Dunmore ;  and  as 
captain  commandant  of  the  militia,  he  issued  his 
proclamation,  summoning  the  people  to  assemble  as 

*The  Olden  Time,  Vol.  I.  p.  95. 


i-M 


:i;i 


no 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


f'f   I 


a  militia  at  Pittsburg,  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  January, 
1774.* 

JNo  vestige  of  Fort  Pitt  now  remains  upon  the 
ground  except  a  redoubt  built  by  Colonel  Bouquet 
in  1764.  This  is  a  small  brick  building  about  sixteen 
feet  square,  which  still  stands  at  the  Point.  It  is 
shamefully  neglected,  whereas  it  should  be  cherished 
as  the  most  interesting  and  the  only  historic  building 
in  Pittsburg.  It  is  the  sole  surviving  relic  of  British 
rule  in  western  Pennsylvania.  It  formerly  bore  a 
tablet  attesting  its  builder  and  its  date,  but  this  plate 
has  been  removed,  and  has  been  placed  in  the  wall 
of  the  City  Hall,  just  at  the  top  of  the  first  flight  of 
stairs.     The  inscription  reads  : 

"A.  D.  1764.  Coll.  Bouquet." 

*  The  Olden  Time,  Vol.  I.  p.  437 ;  Colonial  Records,  Vol.  X.  p.  144. 


U':\ 


THE    SIEGE    OF   FORT    PlTl. 


Ill 


uary, 


n  the 
)uquet 
ixteen 
It  is 
srished 
uilding 
British 
bore  a 
lis  plate 
the  wall 
flight  of 


:.  p.  144- 


THE  SIEGE  OF  FORT  PITT. 

The  western  Indians  were  far  from  satisfied  with 
the  result  of  the  French  war ;  and  Pontiac,  the  great 
chief  of  the  Ottawas,  set  about  forming  an  Indian 
confederacy  against  the  English.  He  had  conceived 
a  profound  contempt  for  the  British  soldiery,  and 
believed  that  by  a  united  effort  the  English  could  be 
driven  east  of  the  Alleghenies,  if  not  expelled  entirely 
from  the  continent.  He  was  shrewd,  eloquent,  and 
b»*ave,  and  by  the  spring  of  the  year  1763,  he  had 
succeeded  in  uniting  no  less  than  eighteen  powerful 
tribes  against  the  enemy.  His  proceedings  were 
conducted  with  the  most  complete  secrecy,  and  with 
three  exceptions — Detroit,  Fort  Pitt,  and  Niagara — 
all  the  English  posts  on  the  frontier  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  Indians  with  little  or  no  resistance.  Yet  this 
dreadful  uprising  of  the  savages  had  not  come  alto- 
gether unheralded,  if  we  are  to  believe  the  ancient 
chronicler.     At  Detroit  and  through  the  surrounding 


^^^mm^^^^f^ 


f 


w 


112 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


J:  :a 


-t'  fi 


'';! 


.=j    '  I. 


country,  in  July,  1762,  it  rained  "a  sulphureous 
water  "  of  the  color  and  consistency  of  ink,  and 
which,  beinjT  collected  in  bottles,  "answered  every 
purpose  of  that  useful  liquid."  "Soon  after,"  con- 
tinues this  ingenuous  writer,  "the  Indian  wars  already 
spoken  of  broke  out  in  these  parts.  I  mean  not  to 
say  that  this  incident  was  ominous  of  them,  notwith- 
standing it  is  well  known  that  innumerable  well  at- 
tested instances  of  extraordinary  phenomena,  hap- 
pening before  extraordinary  events,  have  been 
recorded  in  almost  every  age  by  historians  of  ver- 
acity. I  only  relate  the  circumstance  as  a  fact,  of 
which  I  was  informed  by  many  persons  of  undoubted 
probity,  and  leave  my  readers  to  draw  their  own 
conclusions  from  it."* 

Captain  Simeon  Ecuyer,  a  gallant  Swiss,  was  in 
charge  at  Fort  Pitt.  In  the  beginning  of  May,  1763, 
he  wrote  to  Colonel  Bouquet,  saying  that  Major  Glad- 
wyn,  at  Detroit,  had  sent  him  notice  that  Fort  Pitt 
was  surrounded  by  rascally  Indians.  Complaint  was 
specially  made  of  the  Delawares  and  Shawanese.  **  It 
is  this  canaille,''  writes  Gladwyn,  "  v\  stir  up  the 
rest  to  mischief."  In  the  course  of  the  month,  the 
conduct  of  the  Indians  in  the  vicinity  of  the  fort  be- 

•  Three   Years'  Travels,  etc.,   by  Captain  Jonathan  Carver,  page  96. 
Carver's  visit  to  Detroit  was  in  the  summer  of  1768. 


THE    SIEGE    OF    FORT    PITT. 


"3 


ireous 
,    and 

every 
,"  con- 
ilready 

not  to 
otwith- 
well  at- 
a,  hap- 
e    been 

of  ver- 

fact,  of 
doubted 
eir  own 

was  in 

k  1763. 

lor  Glad- 
'ort  Pitt 
[aint  was 
Ise.  "It 
r  up  the 
jnth,  the 
fort  be- 

Ir,  page  96. 


i 


came  sufpicious.  On  the  evening  of  the  twenty- 
seventh,  Ecuyer  was  informed  by  Mr.  McKee  that 
the  Mingoes  and  Delawares  were  in  motion,  and  that 
they  had  sold  skins  to  the  value  of  ;^300,  with 
which  they  had  purchased  a  large  supply  of  powder 
and  lead.  On  the  twenty-eighth,  McKee  was  sent  to 
the  Indian  towns  to  gather  information,  but  he  found 
them  entirely  abandoned.  On  the  twenty-ninth,  just 
as  he  was  finishing  his  letter — the  last  letter  that  he 
was  able  to  get  through  the  lines  for  more  than  two 
months — Ecuyer  says  that  three  men  who  had  been 
working  near  Clapham's,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
fort,  had  just  got  in  with  the  sad  news  that  the 
Indians  had  "  murdered  Clapham  and  everybody  in 
his  house.  "*  On  the  heels  of  this  bad  news  came 
in  such  traders  as  had  escaped  the  violence  of  the 
savages,  with  reports  of  the  murder  and  pillage  of 
many  of  their  brethren. 

Ecuyer  at  once  set  to  work  to  put  the  fort  in  the 
best  possible  state  of  defence.  The  families  living 
about  the  fort  were  gathered  within  its  walls,  and  the 
houses  outside  were  destroyed.  A  fire-engine  was 
constructed.  A  hospital  was  fitted  up  under  the 
draw-bridge.  Provisions  were  collected,  and  every- 
body capable  of  handling  a  musket  was  armed  for 

*  Letter  of  Captain  Ecuyer  to  Colonel  Bouquet,  May  29,  1763. 


J 
I 


1 

,1 


I  % 


I  'I 


i  Mi? 

■  ■  iii' 


■ii!;; 


■t. 


i 


iil 


114 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


the  conflict.  Ecuyer's  force  consisted  of  three 
hundred  and  thirty  men  —  soldiers,  traders,  and 
backwoodsmen.  There  were  in  the  fort  also  about 
one  hundred  women  and  a  still  greater  number  of 
children.  "  We  have  plenty  of  provisions,"  writes 
one  from  the  fort,  "and  the  fort  is  in  such  a  good 
posture  of  defence,  that,  with  God's  assistance,  we 
can  defend  it  against  a  thousand  Indians." 

For  some  days  after  actual  hostilities  began,  the 
Indians  contented  themselves  with  skulking  in  the 
neighborhood,  and  shooting  any  person  who  might 
be  rash  enough  to  expose  himself,  and  in  this  way 
several  persons  were  slain.  In  the  afternoon 
of  the  twenty-third  of  June,  a  general  fire  was 
opened  on  the  fort  from  all  sides,  and  two  men  were 
killed.  A  discharge  of  large  guns  among  the  savages 
put  a  stop  to  the  assault,  but  a  desultory  fire  was 
kept  up  all  night.  The  next  morning  several 
Indians  approached  the  fort,  and  one  of  them  named 
Turtle  Heart,  addressed  the  garrison  in  terms  of  the 
greatest  friendliness.  He  informed  them  that  six 
great  nations  of  Indians  had  taken  up  the  hatchet. 
"You  musi'leave  this  fort,''  said  he,  "with  all  your 
women  and  children,  and  go  down  to  the  English 
settlements,  where  you  \vni  be  safe.  There  are 
many  bad  Indians  already  here,"  he  continued,  "  but 


THE    SIEGE    OF    FORT   PITT. 


"5 


three 
s,  and 

about 
ber  of 

writes 
a  good 
ice,  we 

;an,  the 
r  in  the 
o  might 
;his  way' 
fternoon 
fire   was 
en  were 
savages 
fire  was 
several 
named 
s  of  the 
that  six 
hatchet, 
all  your 
English 
lere   are 
ed,  ''but 


we  will  protect  you   from  them."     The  purpose  of 
this  cajollery  was  too  evident  ;  and  Captain  Ecuyer 
replied:   "We  have  plenty  of    provisions,  and  are 
able  to  keep   the    fort   against   all   the   nations   of 
Indians  that  may  dare  to  attack   it.     We  are  very 
well  off  in  this  place,  and  mean  to  stay  here."  There 
was  now  a  lull  of   some  weeks  'in  the  proceedings, 
though  the  fort  was  still  watched  by  the  enemy  with 
the  utmost  vigilance,  and  all  communication  with  the 
outside  world  was  entirely  cut  off.     Several  messen- 
gers who  had  attempted  to  pass  through  were  killed 
or  compelled  to  return  wounded.     It  was  not  until 
towards  the  close  of  July  that  any  serious  attempt 
was  again  made  upon  the  fort.     On  the  twenty-sixth 
of  that  month,  a  delegation  of  chiefs  came  to  the  fort 
with  a  flag,  and  were  admitted.     They  made  a  long 
recital  of  their  grievances,  represented  the  dangers  to 
which  the  English   were  exposed,  and  again  urged 
them  to  depart.      "  If  you  leave  this  place  immedi- 
ately," .said  they,  "  and  go  home  to  your  wives  and 
children,  no  harm  will  come  of  it ;  but  if  you  stay, 
you   must   blame   yourselves   alone   for  what   may 
happen."     To  this  Ecuyer  replied:      "I  have  war- 
riors, provisions,  and  ammunition  to  defend  the  fort 
three  years  against  all  the  Indians  in  the  woods  ;  and 
we  shall  never  abandon  it  as  long  as  a  white  man  lives 


7^ 


ii6 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


I'Slll 


in  America.  Moreover,  I  tell  you  that  if  any  of  you 
appear  again  about  this  fort,  I  will  throw  bomb 
shells  which  will  burst  and  blow  you  to  atoms,  and 
fire  cannon  among  }''ou  loaded  with  a  whole  bag  full 
of  bullets.  Therefore,  take  care,  for  I  don't  want  to 
hurt  you." 

This  bravado  on  the  part  of  Ecuyer  was  all  well 
enough,  as  a  fair  offset  to  the  bluster  of  the  Indians ; 
but  the  chiefs  retired  from  the  fort  very  much  dis- 
pleased. That  night  a  fierce  attack  was  made  on  the 
fort.  The  savages  secreted  themselves  in  burrows 
which  they  made  under  the  banks  of  the  river,  in 
which  they  were  entirely  protected  from  the  fire  of 
the  garrison.  From  their  hiding-places  they  kept 
up  a  constant  fire  for  several  days.  They  also  dis- 
charged burning  arrows,  in  hopes  of  setting  the  build- 
ings on  fire  ;  but  in  this  they  failed.  Their  incessant 
yelling  filled  the  women  and  children  with  terror. 
Their  fire  was  not  very  damaging.  No  one  was 
killed;  seven  men  were  wounded,  among  them  Ecuyer 
himself,  who  received  a  wound  in  the  leg  from  an 
arrow.  On  the  side  of  the  Indians  were  twenty  killed 
and  wounded  to  the  certain  knowledge  of  Ecuyer, 
besides,  as  he  believed,  a  number  whom  he  could 
not  see.  Ecuyer's  men  behaved  well.  "  I  am  fortu- 
nate to  have  the  honor  of  commanding  such  brave 


THE    SIEGE    OF    FORT    PITT. 


117 


3f  you 
bomb 
>s,  and 
ag  full 
/ant  to 

ill  well 
idians ; 
ich  dis- 
:  on  the 
aurrows 
river,  in 
;  fire  of 
ey  kept 
lalso  dis- 
e  build- 
hcessant 
terror, 
ne   was 
Ecuyer 
Ifrom  an 
|ty  killed 
jEcuyer, 
e  could 
|m  fortu- 
h  brave 


men,"  he  said.  The  garrison  was  safe  from  the  attack  ; 
but  if  the  siege  should  be  long  continued,  starvation 
must  compel  them  to  capitulate  at  last,  or  attempt  the 
desperate  chance  of  cutting  their  way  through  the 
savage  host.  It  was  impossible  to  communicate  with 
the  outer  world,  and  the  brave  officer  must  at  times 
have  felt  alarm  at  his  isolated  position  and  the  number 
and  pertinacity  of  his  foes. 

But  relief,  unknown  to  him,  was  on  its  way.  Col- 
onel Bouquet,  in  command  of  a  small  army,  was 
moving  slowly  forward  to  the  relief  of  the  beleagured 
garrison.  The  whole  frontier  had  been  thrown  into 
a  state  of  confusion  and  alarm.  The  savage  ma- 
rauders had  swept  over  the  country  almost  un- 
checked, marking  their  path  with  slaughter  and  fire. 
July  thirteenth  Bouquet  writes :  "The  list  of  the  people 
known  to  be  killed  increases  very  fast."  The  terri- 
fied survivors  crowded  into  the  small  frontier  towns, 
where  they  suffered  greatly  from  hunger  and  ex- 
posure. 

Bouquet  set  out  on  his  march  from  Carlisle  with  a 
force  of  about  five  hundred  men,  consisting  mainly 
of  the  Royal  Highlanders,  Montgomery's  Highland- 
ers, and  a  company  of  Royal  Americans.  The 
Highlanders  had  just  landed  from  the  West  Indies, 
where  they  had  suffered  severely  from  the  climate, 


-.*<"\  ., '. — — 


ii8 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


■(Si 


!ll 


and  were  in  a  very  enfeebled  condition.  Sixty  of  them 
were  so  ill  that  they  were  not  able  to  March,  and 
were  taken  along  in  wagons.  While  they  could  not 
be  of  service  in  the  field,  it  was  thought  they  might 
perform  garrison  duty.  On  the  twenty-fifth  of  july. 
Bouquet  reached  Fort  Bedford.  On  the  second  of 
August  he  arrived  at  Fort  Ligonier.  This  place  was 
about  fifty  miles  from  Fort  Pitt.  It  had  been 
repeatedly  assailed  by  the  savages  within  the  last 
few  weeks,  but  the  garrison,  with  the  aid  of  the 
settlers  who  had  fled  to  it  for  protection,  had  beeti 
able  to  hold  the  place.  Bouquet  had  been  very 
anxious  about  Fort  Ligonier,  as  upon  its  safety 
depended  largely  the  success  of  his  expedition. 
Some  Indians  hid  been  hanging  about  the  fort,  but 
upon  the  approach  of  Bouquet  they  disappeared  in 
the  forest. 

Bouquet  determined  to  lighten  his  march  by  leav- 
ing here  his  oxen  and  wagons,  and  push  forward  for 
Fort  Pitt.  On  the  fourth  of  August  he  left  Fort 
Ligonier,  and  marched  about  twelve  miles,  when  he 
encamped  for  the  night.  The  next  day  he  resumed 
his  march,  and  in  the  early  afternoon  he  reached  a 
point  within  half  a  mile  of  Bushy  Run.  where  he 
intended  to  halt  until  evening.  He  had  marched 
seventeen  miles.     The  day  had  been  extremely  hot, 


THE    SIEGE    OF   FORT    PITT. 


119 


them 

I,  and 

Id  not 

might 

f  J  uly, 
ond  of 
xce  was 
d    been 
:he  last 
of  the 
ad  been 
en  very 
s   safety 
jedition. 
fort,  but 
eared  in 

by  leav- 
/ard  for 
[eft  Fort 
when  he 
[resumed 
cached  a 
Ihere  he 
I  marched 
lely  hot, 


and  the  weary  and  thirsty  men  were  looking  forward 
eagerly  to  the  much  needed  rest  and  refreshment 
which  they  had  been  promised.  All  at  once  the 
horrid  war-whoop  and  the  crack  of  numerous  rifles 
in  front  startled  the  unsuspecting  column. 

The  silence  at  Fort  Pitt  on  the  fifth  day  of  August 
was  ominous.  Not  an  Indian  was  to  be  seen.  No' 
sounds  broke  the  stillness  of  the  summer  air.  Ecuyer 
closely  beleagured  for  weeks,  had  received  no  intelli- 
gence of  Bouquet's  march,  and  was  at  a  loss  to 
account  for  the  abandonment  of  the  siege.  He  had 
no  notion,  however,  that  it  boded  any  good  to  the 
garrison,  and  so  was  not  elated  or  thrown  off  his 
guard.  He  looked  for  the  storm  to  burst  upon  him 
again  with  redoubled  fury. 

The  savages  had  indeed  raised  the  siege,  at  least 
for  the  time  being,  and  had  gone  off  to  intercept  the 
march  of  Bouquet.  They  were  no  doubt  animated  by 
the  recollection  of  Braddock's  defeat  a  few  years 
before,  and  anticipated  as  certain  a  victory  now. 
Bouquet  was  marching  over  the  road  made  by  Gen- 
eral Forbes  in  1758.  Although  he  had  left  at  Fort 
Ligonier  all  the  impedimenta  possible,  he  still  had 
with  him  a  train  of  three  hundred  and  forty  pack 
horses  laden  with  flour  and  other  supplies  for  Fort 
Pitt.     By  a  little  after  noon  on  the  fifth  of  August, 


ir 


I20 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


as  we  have  seen,  he  had  reached  a  point  within  half 
a  mile  of  Bushy  Run,  and  about  twenty-four  miles 
from  the  place  of  his  destination. 

At  once  upon  the  opening  of  the  firing  on  his  front, 
Bouquet  pushed  forward  reinforcements.  The  Indians 
kept  themselves  well  hidden  behind  the  trees,  and  did 
not  expose  themselves  to  the  fire  of  the  soldiers. 
The  troops  fell  thick  and  fast.  Only  a  dozen  miles 
away  the  bones  of  Braddock's  unfortunate  men  were 
moldering  into  dust,  and  apprehensions  of  a  similar 
fate  chilled  the  blood  of  Bouquet's  bravest.  The 
soldiers  made  frequent  charges  upon  the  enemy,  but 
the  latter  fled  into  the  woods  and  eluded  the  glittering 
bayonet.  As  soon  as  the  troops  fell  back  to  their 
positions,  the  Indians  again  encircled  them  with  their 
deadly  fire.  Hour^  after  hour  elapsed,  and  the  un- 
equal contest  went  on.  The  fierce  yells  of  the  Indians 
and  the  cries  of  the  wounded  mingled  with  the  con" 
tinuous  rattle  of  arms.  The  pack  horses  were 
unloaded,  and  a  rampart  was  formed  of  the  sacks  of 
flour,  behind  which  were  placed  the  wounded.  To- 
the  oppressive  heat  of  the  day,  wounds,  and  alarm, 
were  added  the  tortures  of  thirst.  The  hillsides 
around  them  were  bursting  with  springs  of  delicious 
water,  but  the  savages  guarded  them  closely  and  cut 
off  all  access  to  them.     Night  at  length  enveloped 


!l 


THE    SIEGE    OF    FORT   PITT. 


121 


the  scene,  and  put  a  temporary  stop  to  the  fierce 
conflict.  More  than  sixty  men  had  been  killed  and 
wounded,  among  them  several  officers.  The  wearied 
soldiers  could  get  but  little  rest  or  sleep.  All  around 
them  were  the  blood-thirsty  savages,  hemming  them 
in,  and  only  waiting  for  day  to  renew  the  slaughter. 
The  frightful  war-whoop,  and  the  report  of  the  mur- 
derous rifle,  whenever  the  sleepless  red  man  perceived 
in  the  gloom  the  object  of  his  hate,  rang  through  the 
forest,  and  kept  the  panting  hosi  im  a  state  of  alarm 
and  wakefulness.  If  the  Indians  counted  upon  an 
easy  victory,  they  reckoned  falsely.  Bouquet  was  a 
different  man  from  Braddock.  He  understood  thor- 
oughly the  Indian  character,  and  was  as  brave  as  the 
bravest.  That  night,  by  the  dim  and  half-hidden 
light,  he  wrote  to  Sir  Jeffery  Amherst  an  account  of 
the  day's  conflict.  How  he  got  or  proposed  to  get 
the  letter  through  the  cordon  of  savages,  we  do  not 
know.  "  Whatever  our  fate  may  be,"  he  wrote,  **I 
thought  it  necessary  to  give  your  excellency  this 
early  information,  that  you  may  at  all  events  take 
such  measures  as  you  think  proper  with  the  provinces, 
for  their  own  safety  and  effectual  relief  of  Fort  Pitt, 
as  in  case  of  another  engagement,  I  fear  insurmount- 
able difficulties  in  protecting  and  transporting  our 
provisions,  being  already  so  weakened  by  the  losses 


mi  ? 


'^y 


122 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


of  this  day  in  men  and  horses,  besides  the  additional 
necessity  of  carrying  the  wounded,  whose  situation  is 
truly  deplorable." 

With  the  early  dawn  the  unequal  combat  was 
resumed.  The  savages  resorted  to  the  same  tactics 
as  on  the  day  before.  "  They  would  never  stand  their 
ground  when  attacked,"  says  Parkman,  "  but  vanish 
at  the  first  gleam  of  the  leveled  bayonet,  only  to 
appear  again  the  moment  the  danger  was  past." 
Thus  the  troopL-:  wearied  with  the  toils  of  the  pre- 
ceding day,  maddened  with  thirst,  and  unable  to  fix 
the  object  of  attack,  were  discouraged  and  almost  in 
despair.  Bouquet  perceived  that  some  different 
method  must  be  taken.  He  believed  that  if  he  could 
but  get  the  Indians  to  stand  their  ground  he  could 
defeat  them.  It  was  now  pointed  out  to  him  where, 
by  a  certain  movement,  a  large  body  of  the  boldest 
of  the  savages  could  be  taken  at  advantage.  Ac- 
cordingly, he  ordered  two  companies  of  Highlanders 
to  retire  from  the  line  and  fall  back  within  the  circle. 
The  wings  then  extended  themselves  across  the  in- 
tervening space,  as  if  to  cover  the  apparent  retreat. 
The  savages,  thinking  that  a  retreat  was  really  taking 
place,  and  now^sure  of  their  prey,  rushed  upon  the 
weakened  part  of  the  line  with  shouts  and  yells,  but 


k 


THE    SIEGE    OF   FORT   PITT. 


123 


itional 
tion  is 

it    was 

tactics 

id  their 

vanish 

)nly  to 
past." 

he  pre- 

e  to  fix 

most  in 

different 
could 

le  could 
where, 
voidest 
Ac- 
ilanders 
e  circle, 
the  in- 
retreat. 
/  taking 
on  the 
Us,  but 


were  stubbornly  resisted.  At  the  same  moment,  the 
two  companies  of  Highlanders,  under  Major  Camp- 
bell, who  for  that  purpose  had  been  sent  around  the 
hill  unobserved  by  the  enemy,  fell  furiously  upon 
their  flank.  "  They  resolutely  returned  the  fire," 
says  Bouquet,  "  but  could  not  stand  the  irresistible 
shock  of  our  m.en,  who,  rushing  in  among  them, 
killed  many  of  them  and  put  the  rest  to  flight. "  They 
were  pursued  by  the  infuriated  troops,  and  completely 
broken  up  and  chased  away. 

No  time  wis  lost.  The  wounded  were  at  once  car- 
ried forward  to  Bushy  Run  and  their  necessities  as 
carefully  attended  to  as  possible.  Here,  however, 
ten  of  the  wounded  died.  Many  of  the  pack  horses 
having  broken  away  during  the  battle.  Bouquet  was 
compelled  to  destroy  a  large  part  of  the  supplies 
which  he  was  taking  to  the  fort.  At  Bushy  Run  the 
Indians  again  attempted  an  attack,  but  they  were  soon 
dispersed.  Except  a  few  scattered  shots  along  the  way. 
Bouquet  was  no  further  molested  by  them.  After  the 
fight,  sixty  Indian  corpses  were  counted  upon  the 
ground.  Bouquet's  loss  had  been  one  hundred  and 
fifteen  men  in  killed,  wounded,  and  missing.  After 
night  the  Indians  returned  to  the  battle-field  and 
scalped  the  dead.     The  next  day  the  screeching  mul- 


k'^imtmmiiHtesiiim 


,i'  r  ■^" 


124 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


titude   marched   past    Fort    Pitt,   shaking   the  gory- 
trophies  at  the  walls.* 

After  resting  and  recruiting  their  strength  at  Bushy- 
Run,  the  army  set  forward  again,  and  on  the  tenth 
of  August  arrived  at  Fort  Pitt.  We  may  easily  con- 
ceive the  rejoicing  that  their  arrival  must  have  caused 
among  the  people  who  had  so  long  been  confined  to 
the  narrow  limits  of  their  walls,  and,  no  doubt,  had 
nearly  given  themselves  up  for  lost.f 

'*  Colonel  Henry  Bouquet  and  his  Campaigns,  by  Rev.  Cyrus  Cort;  p.  43. 

+  The  scene  of  Bouquet's  hard  won  victory  is  on  what  is  called  the  Har- 
rison City  road,  about  two  nniles  north  of  Penn  Station,  on  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad.  The  one  hundred  and  twentieth  anniversary  of  the  battle 
was  celebrated  on  the  ground  with  suitable  ceremonies  on  the  sixth  of 
August,  1883. 


THE    NORTHERN    POSTS. 


125 


THE  NORTHERN  POSTS. 


North  of  Fort  Pitt,  within  the  bounds  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, were  three  British  forts — Venango,  Le  Bceuf, 
and  Presqu'  Isle.  These  had  all  been  established  by 
the  French,  but  had  come  into  the  hands  of  the 
English  soon  after  the  fall  of  Fort  Duquesne,  and 
were  confirmed  to  them  by  the  treaty  of  Paris. 
They  were  all  small  affairs,  and  but  little  able  to 
sustain  any  very  serious  attempt  of  an  enemy. 

Fort  Venango  was  at  the  mouth  of  French  Creek, 
about  seventy-five  miles  north  of  Fort  Pitt.  Fort 
Le  Boeuf  was  some  forty  miles  a  little  west  of  norih 
from  Venango,  and  Fort  Presqu'  Isle  was  about 
fifteen  miles  due  north  of  Le  Bceuf.  Of  the  three 
posts,  Presqu'  Isle  was  the  most  formidable.  The 
latter  and  Fort  Le  Boeuf  had  been  built  by  Monsieur 
Morin  in  the  summer  of  1753.  The  Indians  for 
some  time  strenuously  objected  to  the  building  of  a 
fort  at  the  mouth  of  French  Creek,  but  the  blandish- 


U 


^^^HB^ra: 


w 


126 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


it-    1 


\h 


ments  of  the  crafty  Joncaire  at  length  prevailed.  On 
the  return  of  the  French  forces  to  Canada  in  the  fall 
of  1753,  he  was  allowed  to  remain  upon  the  spot 
with  a  few  soldiers.  Washington,  in  his  famous  visit 
to  the  northern  posts  in  the  winter  of  that  year, 
found  him  there  ensconced  in  the  house  from  which 
John  Frazier,  the  Indian  trader,  had  fled  upon  the 
approach  of  Celoron  some  years  before.  The 
Indians  seem  to  have  eventually  withdrawn  their 
objections,  for  in  the  early  spring  of  1754  the  French 
constructed  a  small  fort  upon  the  coveted  spot, 
which  they  named  Fort  Machault.  This  fort  the 
English  called  Venango.  Still  later  another  military 
work  occupied  the  same  site,  which  was  named  Fort 
Franklin. 

In  the  month  of  June,  1763,  Ensign  Christie  was 
in  command  at  Presqu'  Isle,  Ensign  Price  at  Le 
Bceuf,  and  Lieutenant  Gordon  at  Venango.  The 
garrison  at  Presqu'  Isle  consisted  of  twenty-seven 
men.  Early  in  the  morning  of  June  15,  about  two 
hundred  Indians  appeared  before  the  fort.  The 
garrison  immediately  betook  themselves  to  the  block- 
house, which  was  large  and  well  adapted  to  resist  an 
ordinary  Indian  attack.  The  savages  at  once  assailed 
the  building.  The  assault  was  fierce  and  persistent, 
and  carried   on  with   more  than  usual   skill,  as  the 


THE    NORTHERN   POSTS. 


127 


savages  seem  to  have  been  directed  by  a  soldier  who 
had  been  made  prisoner  early  in  the  French  and 
Indian  war,  "and  had  since  lived  among  the  sav- 
ages, and  now  espoused  their  cause,  fighting  with 
them  against  his  own  countrymen."*  Ensign  Chris- 
tie resisted  bravely  the  assaults  of  the  Indians.  The 
block-house  was  repeatedly  set  on  fire,  but  as  often 
the  flames  were  extinguished.  The  savages  now 
approached  the  block-house  by  a  trench  which  they 
dug,  and  prepared  to  undermine  and  blow  up  the 
building.  Christie  saw  that  all  hope  of  further  suc- 
cessful resistance  was  vain,  and  he  agreed  to  terms 
of  capitulation  on  the  morning  of  the  seventeenth. 
The  Indians  promised  that  the  garrison  should  retire 
unmolested  ;  but  no  sooner  were  the  soldiers  in  their 
hands,  than  they  began  to  plunder  them,  "and  they 
had  good  cause  to  be  thankful,"  says  Parkman, 
"that  they  were  not  butchered  on  the  spot."  They 
were  detained  several  days  at  Presqu'  Isle  and  then 
taken  to  Detroit.  Ensign  Christie  here  had  the  good 
fortune  to  escape  from  the  hands  of  his  savage 
captors,  and  find  his  way  into  the  fort  at  that  place. 
Two  of  Christie's  men,  at  the  capitulation,  darted 

*  Parkman's  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,  Chap.  XIII.  No  one  can  write 
upon  the  history  of  those  times  without  owning  an  indebtedness  to  the 
masterly  volumes  of  Parkman. 


taPtss^a8^*w!^ei«=o»!»^ 


Fr 


li^ 


128 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


into  the  forest  and  disappeared.  One  of  them,  a 
Scotch  soldier  named  Benjamin  Gray,  arrived,  hag- 
gard and  worn,  at  Fort  Pitt  on  the  twenty-sixth  of 
the  month.  He  had  been  eight  days  on  the  way. 
Fortunately  for  him  he  arrived  just  in  a  lull  of  the 
tempest  that  had  raged  around  Fort  Pitt.  The  sav- 
ages who  had  been  investing  that  post  had  gone  off 
to  meet  a  large  body  of  their  allies  who  were  coming 
from  the  west,  and  thus  Gray  entered  its  gates 
unharmed.  He  reported  the  attack  on  Fort  Presqu' 
Isle,  and  the  capitulation ;  but  having  heard  a 
woman  scream  out,  he  said,  he  suspected  they  were 
murdering  her,  and  he  had  hastened  away.*  He 
had  no  doubt  the  entire  garrison  had  been  put  to 
death.  What  their  fate  really  was  we  have  seen 
above.  The  next  morning  after  the  capitulation  of 
Presqu'  Isle,  a  band  of  Indians  appeared  before  Fort 
Le  Boeuf  They  were  a  part  of  the  force  that  had 
attacked  Presqu'  Isle.  They  at  first  professed  to  be 
friendly,  but  very  soon  their  true  character  revealed 
itself.  Ensign  Price's  force  consisted  of  two  corporals 
and  eleven  privates.  He  rejected  all  the  overtures 
of  the  savages  and  repelled  their  onslaught  with  the 

•  See  a  letter  dated  Fort  Pitt,  June  26,  1763.  The  letter  is  printed  in 
Parkman's  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,  Chapter  XVIII.  This  letter  also 
gives  the  history  of  the  attack  on  Fort  Le  Boeuf. 


It' 


THE   NORTHERN   POSTS. 


129 


lem,  a 

xth  of 
J  way. 
of  the 
lie  sav- 
Dne  off 
:oming 
>  gates 
Presqu' 
heard  a 
:y  were 
*     He 
put  to 
e   seen 
Ition  of 
re  Fort 
liat  had 
to  be 
vealed 
rporals 
ertures 
ith  the 

jrinted  in 
stter  also 


greatest  courage.  The  attack  was  continued  all  day. 
At  night  the  Indians  succeeded  in  setting  the  fort  on 
fire.  While  they  were  in  front,  watching  the  door, 
shouting  and  leaping  about,  fancying  the  garrison 
were  perishing  in  the  flames,  the  latter  were  making 
their  escape  quietly  from  the  burning  building 
through  a  window  on  the  other  side.  They  then 
ran  for  the  woods,  which  they  reached  unperceived 
by  the  exultant  savages.  Several  of  the  men  strayed 
away  from  their  companions  in  the  darkness;  but  on 
the  same  day  that  Gray  arrived  at  Fort  Pitt,  Ensign 
Price  with  two  corporals  and  four  private  soldiers 
reached  the  same  place.  Afterward  all  the  garrison 
except  two  men  returned  in  safety  to  their  friends. 

The  fate  of  Venango  had  been  still  more  tragical. 
On  his  way  to  Fort  Pitt,  Ensign  Price  had  passed 
Venango  and  found  the  fort  burned  to  the  ground, 
and  saw  one  of  the  expresses  lying  dead  in  the  road. 
Not  a  man  had  escaped  to  tell  the  story.  Many 
years  afterwards  an  Indian  who  had  been  present, 
informed  Sir  William  Johnson  that  a  large  body  of 
Senecas  had  been  admitted  to  the  fort  under  the 
guise  of  friendship,  when  they  fell  on  the  unsuspect- 
ing garrison,  and  killed  them  all  except  Lieutenant 
Gordon.  Him  they  compelled  to  write  out  a  statement 
of  the  wrongs  which  they  suffered    from  the  white 


?ini 


iSs,. 


'r—zr 


130 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


men,  and  afterwards  tortured  him  for  several  nights 
in  succession,  until  death  came  at  length  to  his 
release.*  Long  afterwards,  ashes  and  charred  wood, 
pieces  of  melted  glass  and  iron,  and  rusted  fragments 
of  firearms,  among  which  were  mingled  broken  and 
decaying  bones,  marked  the  ,ite  of  this  scene  of  In- 
dian treachery  and  cruelty. 

Further  to  the  south,  a  whooping  multitude  were 
holding  Fort  Pitt  in  their  cruel  embrace,  and  antici 
pating  the  hour  when  they  should  glut  their  savage 
hate  in  the  blood  of  those  behind  its  sheltering  walls. 
Fort  Ligonicr,  some  fifty-five  miles  east  of  Fort  Pitt, 
had  sustained  several  attacks  from  the  Indians,  the 
most  determined  on  the  twenty-first  of  June,  but 
made  a  successful  resistance.  The  whole  frontier 
lay  exposed  to  the  inroads  of  the  savages.  Fire  and 
slaughter  marked  their  tracks  in  every  direction. 
"J  have  been  at  Fort  Cumberland  several  days," 
writes  one  on  the  twenty-first  of  June,  "but  the 
Indians  having  killed  nine  people  and  burnt  several 
houses  near  Fort  Bedford,  made  me  think  it  prudent 
to  remove  from  those  parts,  from  which,  I  suppose, 
near  five  hundred  families  have  run  away  within  this 
week."  The  number  of  killed  increased  daily.  The 
terror-stricken  people  fled  for  their  lives.     Happily 

*  Parkman's  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,  Chapter  XVIII. 


I 


THE    NORTHERN    POSTS. 


nights 
to  his 
d  wood, 
igments 
:en  and 
e  of  In- 


131 


the  march  of  Bouquet  and  the  decisive  victory  of 
Bushy  Run  at  length  broke  the  power  of  the  red 
men,  and  sent  them  howh'ng  into  the  wilds  west  of 
theJAllegheny. 


le  were 
i  antici 

savage 
g  walls. 
)rt  Pitt, 
,ns,  the 
ne,  but 
frontier 
"ire  and 
rection. 

days," 
Dut  the 

several 
prudent 
uppose, 
lin  this 
r.  The 
lappily 


ir 


132  THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


FORT  DUQUESNE. 

For  nearly  five  years  Fort  Duquesne  stood  on 
the  western  border  of  civilization  as  a  menace 
to  the  English  colonists.  The  desire  among  them 
for  its  destruction  was  much  like  that  which,  on 
a  larger  scale,  nearly  a  century  later,  found  ex- 
pression m  the  cry,  "On  to  Richmond."  There 
could  be  no  peace  or  safety  on  the  frontier^  so  long 
as  the  French  flag  waved  over  the  bastions  of  Fort 
Duquesne.  We  have  traced  the  history  of  two  ex- 
peditions that  were  fitted  out  for  its  overthrow ;  we 
have  seen  how  the  first  of  these  was  destroyed 
through  the  contumacy  and  bigotry  of  its  leader ; 
we  have  seen  how  the  second,  though  only  missing 
failure,  resulted  in  acquiring  possession  of  the  long- 
coveted  spot.  From  the  prominence  which  so  long 
att'^clied  to  Fort  Duquesne,  we  think  that  reboubt- 
able  stronghold  deserves  more  than  the  passing 
notice  that  we  have  hitherto  given  it. 


FORT   DUQUESNE. 


^33 


tood  on 
menace 
ig  them 
lich,    on 
and    ex- 
There 
so  long 
of  Fort 
two  ex- 
ow ;  we 
|estroyed 
leader  ; 
missing 
he  long- 
so  long 
Ireboubt- 
passing 


It  was  on  tha  sixteenth  day  of  April,  1754,  as  has 
been  stated,  that  a  large  fleet  of  boats  and  batteaux 
carrying  a  powerful  force  of  French  and  Indians, 
descended  the  Allegheny  from  Venango,  and  landed 
at  the  forks  of  the  Ohio.  They  were  under  the 
command  of  M.  de  Contrecoeur,  a  captain  of  infantry 
in  the  French  army.  De  Contrecceur  knew  the 
place  ;  he  had  been  here  with  Celoron  nearly  five 
years  before.  He  now  found  upon  the  spot  a  hand- 
ful of  men  under  Ensign  Ward,  engaged  in  building 
a  fort.  At  Contrecoeur's  demand,  Ward  surrendered 
the  unfiin'shed  work  into  his  hands.  The  French  at 
once  set  about  fortifying  the  place. 

The  designer  of  the  fort  which  the  French  built  at 
the  forks  of  the  Ohio,  was  M.  de  Mercier,  a  captain 
of  artillery,  a  skillful  and  experienced  engineer.  The 
fort  was  built  on  a  larger  plan  than  the  modest  stock 
ade  upon  which  Ensign  Ward  had  been  at  work. 
The  French  had  come  to  stay  ;  and  the  fort  which 
they  built  was  one  link  in  the  chain  of  military  posts 
which  they  intended  to  stretch  from  Quebec  to  New 
Orleans.  The  fort  was  named  Duquesne,  in  compli- 
ment to  the  Marquis  de  Duquesne,  the  governor- 
general  of  Canada. 

The  first  account  we  have  of  Fort  Duquesne  is  by 
Captain  Robert  Stobo,  one  of  the  hostages,  'given 


^4^1,0*4  W'tf^Y.f^'^^'r^'-^ 


134 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


iri 


by  Washington  to  the  French  at  Fort  Necessity. 
July  twenty- eighth,  1754,  he  writes  to  Washington. 
He  gives  no  verbal  description  of  the  fort  in  his  letter 
but  he  enclosed  a  well-drawn  plan  of  the  works,  with 
explanations,  "such  as  time  and  opportunity  would 
admit  oT. "  The  letter  was  conveyed  by  an  Indian,  "a 
worthy  fellow,"  though  Stobo  was  in  great  danger  in 
writing  such  information.  "  The  garrison,"  he  says, 
"  consists  of  two  hundred  workmen,  and  all  the  rest 
went  in  several  detachments,  to  the  number  of  one 
thousand,  two  days  hence.  Mercier,  a  fine  soldier, 
goes  ;  so  that  Contrecceur,  with  a  few  young  officers 
and  cadets,  remains  here.  A  lieutenant  went  off 
some  days  ago,  with  two  hundred  men,  (or  pro- 
visions. He  is  daily  expected.  When  he  arrives  • 
the  garrison  will  be  four  hundred  men."  "When we 
engaged  to  serve  the  country  "  he  adds,  "  it  was  ex- 
pected we  were  to  do  it  with  our  lives.  Let  them 
not  be  disappointed.  Consider  the  good  of  the  expe- 
dition, without  the  least  regard  for  us.  For  my  part, 
I  would  die  a  thousand  deaths  to  have  the  pleasure 
of  possessing  this  fort  but  one  day." 

It  is  easy  to  be  brave  when  dange  's  far  off; 
this  man  was  brave  when  danger  wr.  mminent. 
Indeed,  no  brighter  example  of  self-c  .otion  and 
moral  courage  shines  on  the   page   of  history  than 


i 


■m 


FORT    DUQUESNE. 


135 


:essity. 

ington. 

is  letter, 

ks,  with 

y  would 

dian,  "a 

ianger  in 
he  says, 

\  the  rest 

;r  of  one 

e  soldier, 

ig  officers 
went  off 

,    for  pro- 
le  arrives 
When  we 
it  was  ex- 
Let  them 

|f  the  expe- 
ir  my  part, 
e  pleasure 

s  far  off; 

mminent. 

.otion   and 

listory  than 


this  of  Captain  Stobo  at  Fort  Duquesne,  and  it  well 
entitles  him  to  further  notice  at  our  hands.* 

Robert  Stobo  was  born  at  Glasgow,  Scotland,  in 
the  year  1727.  While  yet  very  young,  he  came  to 
Virginia,  where  he  was  engaged  in  mercantile  pur- 
suits;  but  possessing  a  "natural  openness  and  free- 
dom of  temper,  joined  with  a  turn  for  gaiety,"  his 
affairs  as  a  merchant  did  not  prosper.  When,  in 
1754,  the  Assembly  of  Virginia  determined  to  raise  a 
force  to  oppose  the  progress  of  the  French,  Stobo 
was  one  of  the  first  to  offer  his  services.  From 
Great  Meadows  Captain  Stobo  was  taken  to  Fort 
Duquesne,  where  he  remained  for  some  months,  just 
how  long  we  do  not  know ;  but  some  time  before  the 
date  of  Braddock's  expedition  he  had  been  transferred 
from  Duquesne  to  Quebec.  All  this  time  he  had 
been  well  ticated,  and  was  quite  a  favorite,  especially 
with  the  French  ladies,  who,  indeed,  "  never  thought 
any  company  complete  unless  Monsieur  Stobo  made 
one  of  it." 

When  General  Braddock  arrived  at  Wills  Creek  on 
his  way  to  Fort  Duquesne,  Colonel  Washington  put 

*  In  1854,  Neville  B.  Craig,  the  historian  of  Pittsburg,  after  much 
trouble  secured  in  England  a  manuscript  copy  of  the  "  Memoirs  of  Robert 
Stobo,"  which  he  published  in  a  neat  little  volume.  The  Memoirs  bring 
the  life  of  Stobo  down  only  to  the  early  part  of  the  year  1760.  To  this 
little  work  we  are  indebted  mainly  for  the  facts  in  this  notice  of  that  brave 
and  patriotic  man. 


t 


136 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


;.f 


•'  .  I 


i 


^■^ 


into  his  hands  the  letter  he  had  received  from  Stobo, 
and  in  the  battle  of  the  Monongahela  these  letters, 
among  other  effects  of  Braddock's,  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  French.  Very  soon  a  change  was  made  in  the 
treatment  of  Stobo ;  he  was  committed  a  close 
prisoner,  and  by  an  order  from  Paris,  the  governor- 
general  of  Canada  was  directed  to  try  him  for  his 
life  as  a  spy.  This  was  in  1756.  Some  chance  offer- 
ing itself,  Stobo  escaped  from  prison,  but  was  speedily 
recaptured.  In  November  of  the  same  year  he  was 
brought  up  for  trial,  found  guilty,  and  sentenced  to 
death.  The  execution  was  delayed,  and  meantime, 
on  the  night  of  the  thirtieth  day  of  April,  1757,  he 
again  escaped  from  confinement.  Better  fortune 
awaited  him  this  time,  and  after  a  series  of  "  remark- 
able adventures  "  and  hair-breadth  escapes,  he  arrived 
at  Louisburg  in  the  early  part  of  the  following  June. 
His  subsequent  career,  so  far  as  it  has  been  related, 
was  no  less  patriotic  and  adventurous.  He  continued 
in  the  service  of  his  adopted  country  until  the  close 
of  the  French  and  Indian  war.  When  or  where  he 
died,  we  are  not  informed. 

Captain  Vanbraam,  it  will  be  remembered,  was 
Stobo's  companion  in  captivity.  A  cloud  of  suspi- 
cion has  always  rested  on  the  fame  of  Vanbraam — 
perhaps  unjustly.     We  know  of  no  grounds  for  this 


FORT   DUQUESNE. 


137 


tobo, 
itters, 
hands 
in  the 
close 
^ernor- 
for  his 
:e  offer- 
.peedily 
he  was 
need  to 
iantime, 

1757.  ^^^ 
fortune 

remark- 

e  arrived 

g  June. 

related, 

ontinued 

he  close 

here  he 

tred,   was 
of  suspi- 
ibraann — 
Is  for  this 


suspicion,  except  the  misinterpretation  of  the  articles 
of  capitulation  at  Fort  Necessity.  This  was  no  doubt 
the  result  of  insufficient  knowledge  of  the  French 
lancruacfc.  He  was  taken  with  Stobo  to  Quebec, 
where  he  was  detained  a  prisoner  for  many  years. 
The  distinguished  historian,  Dr.  Lyman  C.  Draper, 
has  made  a  thorough  examination  of  the  history  of 
Vanbraam,  so  far  as  it  is  ascertainable,  and  he  de- 
fends the  character  of  that  unfortunate  officer.  "  It 
is  a  burning  shame,"  he  remarks,  "  that  services  and 
sufferings  Hke  his  should  have  been  so  long  and  so 
ungratefully  stigmatized  and  misrepresented."* 

In  the  month  of  June,  1755,  young  James  Smith, 
who  has  been  mentioned  several  times  already  in  the 
course  of  these  sketches,  was  captured  by  the  Indi- 
ans and  taken  to  Fort  Duquesne.  His  reception  there 
was  somewhat  rough.  He  says  :  "  The  next  morn- 
ing we  continued  our  march,  and  in  the  afternoon  we 
came  in  full  view  of  the  fort,  which  stood  on  'the 
point,  near  where  Fort  Pitt  now  stands.  We  then 
made  a  halt  on  the  bank  of  the  Allegheny,  and  re- 
peated the  scalp  halloo,  which  was  answered  by  the 
firing  of  all  the  firelocks  in  the  hands  of  both 
Indians  and  French  who  were  in  and  about  the  fort, 
and  also  the  great  guns,  which  were  followed  by  the 

*  See  The  Olden  Time,  Vol.  I.  pp.  370-384. 


1  I' 


138 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


continued  shouts  and  yells  of  the  different  savage 
tribes  who  were  then  collected  there.  As  I  was  at 
this  time  unacquainted  with  this  mode  of  firing  and 
yelling  of  the  savages,  I  concluded  there  were  thou- 
sands of  Indians  there  ready  to  receive  General  Brad- 
dock  ;  but  what  added  to  my  surprise,  I  saw  numbers 
running  towards  me,  stripped  naked,  except  breech- 
clouts,  and  painted  in  the  most  'hideous  manner,  of 
various  colors,  though  the  principal  color  was  vermil- 
ion, or  a  bright  redj  yet  there  was  annexed  to  this 
black,  brown,  blue,  etc.  As  they  approached,  they 
formed  themselves  into  two  long  ranks,  about  two 
or  three  rods  apart.  I  was  told  by  an  Indian  that 
could  speak  English,  that  I  must  run  betwixt  these 
ranks,  and  that  they  would  flog  me  all  the  way  as  I 
ran  ;  and  if  I  ran  quick,  it  would  be  so  much  the 
better,  as  they  would  quit  when  I  got  to  the  end  of 
the  ranks.  There  appeared  to  be  a  general  rejoicing 
about  me,  yet  I  could  find  nothing  like  joy  in  my 
breast ;  but  I  started  to  the  race  with  all  the  n^solu- 
tion  and  vigor  I  was  capable  of  exerting,  and  found 
that  it  was  as  I  had  been  told,  for  I  was  flogged  the 
whole  way.  When  I  had  got  near  the  end  of  the 
lines,  I  was  struck  with  something  that  appeared  to 
me  to  be  a  stick  or  the  handle  of  a  tomahawk,  which 
caused  me  to  fall  to  the  ground.     On  my  recovering 


FORT   DUQUESNE. 


139 


savage 
was  at 
ng  and 
e  thou- 
al  Brad- 
lumbers 
breech- 
iner,   of 
;  vermil- 
to  this 
ed,  they 
out  two 
[ian  that 
xt  these 
vay  as  I 
uch  the 
:  end  of 
rejoicing 
in  my 
rcsolu- 
found 
ged  the 
of  the 
;ared  to 
,  which 
overing 


my  senses,  I  endeavored  to  renew  my  race  ;  but  as  I 
arose  some  one  cast  sand  into  my  eyes,  which  bHnded 
me  so  that  I  could  not  see  where  to  run.  They  con- 
tinued beating  me  most  intolerably,  until  I  was  at 
length  insensible ;  but  before  I  lost  my  senses,  I  re- 
member my  v/ishing  them  to  strike  the  fatal  blow, 
for  I  thought  they  intended  killing  me,  but  appre- 
hended they  were  too  long  about  it."*  Smith  was 
adopted  into  the  Caughnewago  tribe,  and  lived  with 
them  for  several  years.  He  escaped  from  them  near 
Montreal,  in  July,  1759- 

John  McKinney  was  a  prisoner  at  Fort  Duquesne 
in  the  fall  of  the  year  1756,  and  has  given  a,  very  full 
description  of  the  place  as  it  then  was,  from  which 
^  /e  extract  the  following : 

Fort  Duquesne  is  situated  on  the  east  side  of  the  Monongahela,  in  the 
fork  between  that  and  the  Ohio  [/.  e.  the  Allegheny].  It  is  four  square  ; 
has  bastions  at  each  corner  ;  it  is  about  fifty  yards  long  and  about  forty 

yards  wide About  half  the  fort  is  made  of  square  logs,  and 

the  other  half  next  the  water  of  stockadoes  ;  there  are  intrenchments  cast 
up  all  around  the  fort,  about  seven  feet  high,  whicli  consist  of  stockadoes 
drove  into  the  ground  near  to  each  other  and  wattled  with  poles  like 
basket-work,  against  which  earth  is  thrown  up  in  a  gradual  ascent ;  the 
steep  part  is  next  the  fort,  and  has  three  steps  all  along  the  intrenchment 
for  the  men  to  go  up  and  down  to  hre  at  the  enemy  ;  these  intrenchments 
are  about  four  rods  from  the  fort  and  go  all  around,  a-  well  on  the  side  of 

*  Colonel  James  Smith's  Narrative,  in  Drake  s  Indian  Captivities, 
p.  182. 


I 


iiiiiiiiiililll 


iiii 


I  w^^im 


mmmmmm 


140 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


;':    II 


the  water  as  the  land  ;  the  outside  of  the  intrenchnient  next  the  water  joins 
to  the  water  ;  the  fort  has  two  gates,  one  of  which  opens  on  the  land-side 
and  the  other  to  the  water-side,  where  the  magazine  is  built  ;  that  to  the 
land  side  is  in  fact  a  draw-bridge,  which  in  daytime  serves  as  a  bridge 
for  the  people,  and  in  the  night  is  drawn  up  by  iron  chains  and  levers. 
.     .     .    The  water  sometimes  rises  so  high  as  that  the  whole  fort  is 

surrounded  with  it,  >>u  ilmi  canoes  may  go  around  it The 

stockadoes  are  round  logs  better  than  a  foot  over,  and  about  eleven  or 
twelve  feet  high  :  the  joints  are  secured  by  split  logs  ;  in  the  stockadoes 
are  loop-holes,  made  so  as  to  fire  slanting  towards  the  ground.  The  bas- 
tions are  filled  with  earth,  solid,  about  eight  feet  high  ;  each  bastion  has 
four  carriage  guns,  about  four  pound  ;  no  swivel  nor  any  mortars  that  he 

knows  of ;  they  have  no  cannon  but  at  the  bastions There 

are  no  pickets  nor  palisades  on  the  top  of  the  fort  to  defend  it  against 
scaling  ;  the  eaves  of  the  houses  in  the  fort  are  about  even  with  the  top  of 
the  logs  or  wall  of  the  fort  ;  .  .  .  .  there  are  about  twenty  or  thirty 
ordinary  Indian  cabins  about  the  fort.* 

"  While  it  might  suffice  for  the  general  historian," 
says  the  Rev.  Mr.  Lambing,  "  to  say  that  Fort  Du- 
quesne  stood  on  the  point  of  land  at  the  confluence 
of  the  Allegheny  and  Monongahela  rivers,  it  should 
be  the  study  of  the  local  annalist  to  fix  its  site  with 
precision.  And  on  this  point,  as  might  be  expected, 
there  is  considerable  difference  of  opinion."  After  a 
very  careful  discussion  of  the  question,  he  says  : 
"We  must  conclude  that  the  fort  was  located  within 
a  square,  bounded  by  Water  street,  Duquesne  way, 
Point   alley,  and  a  line  drawn  parallel  with,  and  a 


*  The  Olden  Time,  Vol.  I.  p.  39. 


FORT    DUQUESNE. 


141 


>> 


I  says  : 
athin 
way, 

land  a 


hundred  feet  from,  Penn  Avenue,  on  the  Allegheny 
river  side  ;  and  that  it  covered  the  ground  occupied 
at  present  by  Rice's  Castle,  the  Pittsburg  Plow 
works,  part  of  Hugh  M.  Bole's  machine  shop  and 
the  other  small  buildings  that  stand  between."* 

Captain  John  Haslet,  who  came  with  Forbes* 
army,  wrote  to  Rev.  Dr.  Alison  of  Philadelphia  a 
final  description  of  Fort  Duquesne,  from  which  it 
will  be  seen  that  some  changes  had  been  made  in  the 
works  subsequent  to  the  time  of  John  McKinney. 
He  says :  "We  arrived  at  six  last  night,  Novem- 
ber 25,  1758,  and  found  it  in  a  great  measure  de- 
stroyed. There  arc  two  forts  about  two  hundred 
yards  distant  ;  the  one  built  with  immense  labor, 
small,  but  a  great  deal  of  very  strong  works  collected 
into  very  little  room,  and  stands  on  the  point  of  a 
narrow  neck  of  land  at  the  confluence  of  the  two 
rivers.  'Tis  square  and  has  two  ravelins,  gabions 
at  each  corner,  etc.  The  other  fort  stands  on  the 
bank  of  the  Allegheny,  in  form  of  a  parallelogram, 
but  nothing  so  strong  as  the  other ;  several  of  the 
outworks  are  lately  begun  and  still  unfinished.  There 
are,  I  think,  thirty  stacks  of  chimneys  standing,  the 
houses  all  burnt  down They  went 

*  Historical  Researches,  Vol.  I.  p.  49. 


7^ 


mm 


142 


THE    FRENCH   IN   THE   ALLEGHENY   VALLEY. 


1  / 


off  in  such  haste  that  they  could  not  make  quite  the 
havoc  of  their  works  they  intended."* 

It  must  be  observed  that  wherever  the  French 
armies  went,  there  went  along  the  ministers  of  their 
rehgion  ;  wherever  the  French  made  a  lodgment  in 
the  wilderness,  there  the  cross  was  erected  and  there 
mass  was  said. 

"  No  lofty  turrets  upward  spring 

From  massive  ancient  piles  ; 
No  soothing  chimes  their  echoes  ring 

Through  dim  cathedral  aisles  ; 
But  high  above,  God's  ample  arch 

Bends  o'er  their  simple  shrines, 
Displayed  beneath  the  towering  larch 

'Mid  aisles  of  sighing  pines  !"+ 

Father  Bonnechamps  had  accompanied  Celoron  on 
his  expedition  down  the  Ohio  ;  and  so  now  with  de 
Contrecoeur  came  the  good  Father  Denys  Barron. 
Somewhere  near  the  walls  of  the  fort  a  small  church 
was  speedily  erected,  and  above  its  lowly  roof  the 
cross  held  out  its  arms.  One's  heart  bleeds  when  he 
pictures  to  himself  that  group  of  prisoners  brought 
in  at  the  close  of  Braddock's  dreadful  day — naked, 
bleeding,  footsore,  weary,  thirsty,  with  no  hope,  and 
only  to  meet  a  dreadful  death  at  the  stake — and  it  is 

•  The  Olden  Time,  VoL  I.  p.  184. 

t  A  Tribute  to  Kane,  and  other  Poems,  by  George  W.  Chapman,  p.  52. 


;Mi     "    .     U, 


,  .^:;  ■'     '':1^;\'^';m:C'-^'^Ii:¥fn'  '-m-i"''^ 


FORT   DUQUESNE. 


143 


ite  the 

French 
if  their 
lent  in 
d  there 


Dron  on 
kvith  de 
Barron, 
church 
)of  the 
en  he 
lought 
naked, 
3e,  and 
id  it  is 

lan,  p.  52. 


sweet  to  think  that  perhaps  in  that  supreme  moment 
of  pain  and  terror  some  dying  man  may  have  caught 
a  glimpse  of  the  cross  through  the  smoke  of  his  tor- 
ment, and  a  hope  not  of  this  world  may  have  sprung 
up  in  his  heart. 

That  very  morning  the  gallant  Beaujeu  had  knelt 
at  the  altar  rail  in  the  little  church  to  receive  the  holy 
communion.  His  body  was  now  brought  back  from 
the  fatal  field,  his  gorget  stained  with  blood,  to  lie  a 
brief  space  before  the  same  altar  rail  ere  it  should 
be  consigned  to  its  long-since  forgotten  resting  place. 

Fort  Duquesne  underwent  several  changes  of  com- 
mandant. The  first  chief  was,  as  we  have  seen,  M. 
de  Contrecoeur.  He  continued  in  command  until  the 
early  fall  of  1755.  M.  Dumas,  who  had  succeeded 
to  the  command  of  the  French  and  Indians  at  the 
battle  of  the  Monongahela,  upon  the  death  of 
Beaujeu,  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  fort 
upon  the  withdrawal  of  M.  de  Contrecoeur.  He  styles 
himself  "  Commander-in-chief  of  Fort  Duquesne  and 
its  dependencies."  M.  Dumas  was  succeeded  by  M. 
de  Ligneris.  Just  how  long  M.  Dumas  held  the 
command  we  do  not  know  ;  but  under  date  of  De- 
cember 27,  1756,  we  find  him  mentioned  in  the  Bap- 
tisnial  Register  diS  "  commander  of  Fort  Duquesne." 
M.  de  Ligneris  continued  in  that  position  until  the 


144 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


■nil 


abandonment  of  the  fort  by  the  French  in  November, 

1758. 

We  owe  much  to  the  Baptismal  Register,  lately 
made  accessible  to  the  general  reader,  for  our  glimpses 
of  still-life  at  Fort  Duquesnc.  The  Register  records 
the  baptisms  and  sepultures  at  Fort  Duqucsne  for 
the  years  from  1754  to  1756  inclusive,  as  also  for  the 
year  1753  at  the  other  French  forts  on  the  Allegheny. 
The  Register  was  kept  mainly  by  the  Rev.  Denys 
Barron,  /htinonier  du  Roy — "the  chaplain  of  the 
king.'  Vlany  interesting  facts,  unimportant  in  thern- 
selvcb,  d  yet  interesting  as  connected  with  the  his- 
tory of  this  '  '"lous  French  post,  may  be  gleaned 
from  its  pages.  The  first  record  at  Fort  Duquesne 
is  that  of  the  interment  of  Toussaint  Boyer,  "  styled 
the  gentleman,"  a  young  man  of  about  twenty-two 
years,  who  died  in  the  fort  on  the  twentieth  of  June, 
1754,  "  after  he  had  received  the  sacraments  of  pen- 
ance, the  viaticum,  and  extreme  unction."  He  was 
followed  in  death,  on  the  fifteenth  of  July,  by  De 
Jardin,  aged  about  twenty-three  years  ;  on  August 
the  third  by  Joseph  Delisk,  i?ged  about  twenty-six 
years  ;  and  so  on. 

As  echoes  from  Braddock's  field,  we  find  the  record 
of  the  interment  in  "the  cemetery  of  Fort  Du- 
quesne, "of  John  Baptist  Talion,  who  was  wounded 


FORT    DUQUESNE. 


MS 


in  the  battle  and  died  the  same  day  in  the  fort ;  of 
M.  de  Carqueville,  a  lieutenant  of  marines,  who  was 
killed  in  the  battle  ;  of  John  Baptist  La  Perade, 
•*  ensign  in  the  troops  of  the  Isle  Royale,"  who  died 
of  \vounds  the  next  day  after  the  battle;  of'M. 
Lienard  Daniel,  Esquire,  Siour  de  Beaujeu,  Captain  in 
the  Infantry,  Commander  of  Fort  Duquesnc  and  of 
the  army,''  who  was  buried  on  the  twelfth  of  July  ; 
and  of  John  Baptist  Depuis,  who  lingered  until  the 
twenty-ninth,  when  he  died. 

The  first  white  child  born  on  the  site  of  the  city  of 
Pittsburg'  seems  to  have  been  John  Daniel  Norment, 
born  on  the  eighteenth  of  September,  1755,  the  son 
of  John  Gasper  Norment  and  of  Mary  Joseph 
Chainier,  "his  father  and  mother  being  united  in 
lawful  wedlock."  The  father  is  described  as  "  mer- 
chant trader  at  the  Beautiful  River."  The  child  had 
for  his  god- father  no  less  a  character  than  "  Monsieur 
John  Daniel,  Esquire,  Sieur  Dumas,  Captain  of  In- 
fantry, Commander-in-Chief  of  the  forts  of  Presqu' 
Isle,  French  Creek,  and  Duquesne,  at  the  Beautiful 
River. "  The  babe  did  not  live  long  to  enjoy  the  dis- 
tinction, as  the  very  next  entry  in  the  Register  is  that 
of  his  death,  which  took  place  on  the  twenty-fourth 
of  the  same  month." 


■#l«  !  i 


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■!      1.1 


1       ! 
I 


1'  i 


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11  i\'i 


146 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


(I 

l.l'j  ( 


These  are  specimens  of  the  entries  in  this  valuable 
old  document,  and  its  pages  are  well  worth  perusal 
by  those  who  are  interested  in  the  early  annals  of  our 
country. 


WEISER'S    mission   to   the    OHIO. 


147 


WEISER'S  MISSION  TO  THE  OHIO. 

One  of  the  earliest  expeditions  to  the  Ohio  Indians, 
of  which  we  have  any  definite  knowledge  is  that  of 
Conrad  Weiser,  in  the  summer  of  1748.  Weiser  was 
sent  by  the  government  of  Pennsylvania  with  a  present 
of  goods  of  considerable  value.  He  was  accompanied 
by  George  Croghan,  a  trader,  who  was  well  acquainted 
in  the  Indian  country  and  "the  best  roads  to  Ohio," 
In  his  "Instructions"  from  the  government,  Weiser 
is  directed  as  follows  : 

You  are  to  use  the  utmost  diligence  to  acquire  a  perfect  knowledge  of 
the  number,  situation,  disposition,  and  strength  of  all  ihs  Indians  in  or 
near  those  parts,  whether  they  be  friends,  neutrals,  or  eriemies,  and  be 
very  particular  in  knowing  the  temper  and  influence  of  the  tribes  ni  Indi- 
ans who  send  deputies  to  receive  you ;  for  by  the  knowledge  of  these 
matters  you  are  to  regulate  the  distribution  of  the  goods  which  are  to  be 
divided  amongst  them  in  as  equal  and  just  a  manner  as  possible,  that  all 
may  go  away  satisfied,  and  none  receive  the  least  cause  of  disgust  at  ?.:j7 
undue  preference  given  to  others. 

Conrad  W  eiser  was  a  German  by  birth,  and  was 
at  this  time  1  .  his  fifty-second  year.     In    17 10  his 


148 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


^!i:i 

?lil: 


11 


Pl^ 


father  emigrated  to  America,  and  settled  at  Scoharie, 
in  New  York.  Here  the  family  was  frequently  visited 
by  a  Mohawk  chief  named  Quagnant,  and  at  the 
solicitation  of  this  chief  young  Conrad  went  into  the 
Mohawk  country,  where  he  devoted  himself  to  learn- 
ing the  language  of  the  Indians.  In  1729,  he  married 
and  moved  to  Berks  county,  Pennsylvania.  He  was 
frequently  employed  by  the  colonial  authorities  as 
interpreter,  agent,  etc.,  for  ihe  Indians.  During  the 
French  and  Indian  war,  Weiser  was  colonel  of  a 
regiment  of  Pennsylvania  volunteers.  After  a  busy 
and  useful  life  he  died  in  June,  1760. 

Weiser,  upon  the  occasion  above  described,  came 
ov^er  into  the  Indian  country  by  the  Kiskiminetas 
route.  His  course  from  his  starting  point  in  Berks 
county  was  almost  due  west  by  the  Black  Log  sleep- 
ing place  and  the  Standing  Stone,  to  the  ancient 
settlement  at  Frankstown,  at  the  foot  of  the  moun- 
tains, in  Blair  county.  The  distances,  as  he  gives 
them  in  his  itinerary,  foot  up  considerably  more 
than  the  distance  measured  in  a  straight  line,  but 
perhaps  not  more  than  the  tortuous  windings  of  what 
were  considered  "the  best  roads"  required.  At 
Frankstown  he  says  he  "saw  no  houses  or  cabin." 
We  do  not  understand  this ;  perhaps  the  place  had 
been  destroyed  or  abandoned,  or  perhaps  he  did  not 


k 


WEISER'S    mission   to   the    OHIO. 


149 


Dcoharie, 
ly  visited 
d  at  the 
;  into  the 
"  to  learn- 
i  married 
He  was 
orities  as 
uring  the 
>nel  of  a 
er  a  busy 

ed,  came 
kiminetas 
in  Berks 
og  sleep- 
ancient 
le  moun- 
he  gives 
ly  more 
line,  but 
Is  of  what 
ed.      At 
cabin." 
lace  had 
did  not 


enter  the  settlement  itself,  but  came  only  into  the 
neighborhood  of  it.*  At  this  point  he  made  a 
detour  to  the  right,  "  crossed  the  Allegheny  hills, " 
no  doubt  by  the  Kittanning  path,  and  at  the  distance 
of  sixteen  miles  from  Frankstown  reached  a  point 
called  "the  Clear  Fields,"  where  he  remained  over 
night.  This  place  was  in  the  northeastern  part  of 
Cambria  county,  in  the  township  that  is  still  called 
Clearfield.  Here  he  turned,  and  traveling  a  little 
west  of  south,  he  came  that  day,  August  23,  to  the 
'Showonese  cabbins. "  This  was  the  point  where 
Johnstown  now  stands.  It  is  well  known  that  a 
Shawanese  village,  afterwards  call  Kekkeknepalin, 
occupied  this  spot. 

From  the  Shawanese  cabins  Weiser  proceeded 
northwest  a  distance  of  fifty-two  miles  to  "Ten  Mile 
lick,"  as  he  calls  it.  This  was  somewhere  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  present  town  of  Apollo.  From  here, 
next  day,  he  traveled  about  due  west,  crossed  the 
Kiskiminetas  near  its  mouth  and  came  to  the  Ohio, 
as  he  calls  it,  meaning  the  Allegheny,  twenty-six 
miles  from  his  starting  place  in  the  morning.     Here 

*  This  old  town  occupied  about  the  same  site  as  the  modern  Frankstown 
in  Blair  county.  "  It  was  named  after  an  old  German  Indian  trader 
named  Stephen  Franks,  who  lived  contemporaneously  with  old  Hart,  and 
whose  post  was  at  this  old  Indian  town." — ^Jones'  yuniata  Valley,  p.  324. 


li 


150 


THE  FRi:.NCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


he  hired  a  canoe  for  one  thousand  black  wampum,  to 
convey  himself  and  Croghan  to  Logstown.  The 
horses  were  tired,  and  were  to  come  afterwards. 

The  point  on  the  Allegheny  where  they  tooU  the 
water  was  the  old  Shawanese  town,  commonly  called 
Chartier's  town.  Peter  Chartier  was  a  French  Indian 
half-breed,  a  very  stirring  spirit  and  well  known 
character  in  the  western  country  in  those  times.  In 
1745  he  went  to  the  Wabash  country,  and  the  Indian 
town  at  or  near  the  mouth  of  Buffalo  creek,  on  the 
Allegheny,  was  abandoned ;  hence  it  was  sometimes 
called  the  "Old  Showonese  town,"  and  sometimes 
*'  Chartier's  town  "  or  "  Chartier's  Old  town." 
Weiser  says  it  was  "above  sixty  miles  by  water  " 
from  Logstown ;  but  in  this  he  was  in  error,  as  the 
distance  was  not  more  than  fifty  miles  at  the  farthest. 
The  first  evening  after  leaving  the  old  Shawanese 
town  they  came  to  a  Delau'are  village,  where  the  In- 
dians treated  them  very  kindly.  Next  day  they  set 
off  in  the  morning  early  They  dined,  he  says,  in  a 
Seneca  town,  in  the  house  of  an  old  Seneca  woman, 
who  reigned  "  with  great  authority. "  This  place  was 
Shannopin's  town,  which  stood  on  the  left  bank  of 
the  Allegheny,  about  two  miles  above  the  forks  of 
the  Ohio,  within  the  present  limits  of  Pittsburg.  The 
"old   Seneca  woman"   was   doubtless   Qaeen  AH- 


^ 


WEISER's   mission   to   the   OHIO. 


151 


quippa,  a  personage  not  unknown  to  early  local 
fare.  The  evening  of  the  same  day  Weiser  arrived 
at  Logstown,  which  was  the  objective  point  of  his 
journey. 

Logstown  was  situated  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
Ohio,  at  a  distance  of  eighteen  miles  from  the 
point  at  Pittsburg.*  It  was  an  important  Indian 
town,  and  is  of  frequent  mention  in  the  annals  of  the 
last  century.  At  the  time  of  which  we  write  it  con- 
sisted of  some  sixty  or  seventy  cabins,  inhabited  by 
a  number  of  confederated  tribes — Senecas,  Shaw- 
anese,  Dclawares,Wyandotts,  etc.  The  year  previous 
to  this  time  a  delegation  from  the  Indian  tribes  on  the 
Ohio  had  requested  of  the  government  of  Pennsyl- 
vania that  an  agent  should  be  sent  to  them  at  Logs- 
town  for  the  purpose  of  holding  a  council.  It  was  in 
pursuance  of  this  request  that  Weiser  had  now  come. 
He  had  been  here  bi  u  a  few  days  when  he  received  a 
message  from  Coscosky,  an  Indian  town  on  the  Big 
Beaver  river,  at  no  great  distance,  desiring  him  to  hold 
the  council  at  their  town  ;  but  very  much  to  the  grati- 
fication of  the  inhabitants  of  Logstown,  he  refused 
to  hold  the  council  at  any  other  place  than  the  latter 
town. 

The  horses  that  carried  the  goods  had  'preceded 

•  Morse's  American  Gazetter,  1884. 


mi 


^UiiiiiiiiillillM 


%r 


■;>• 


./ 


/" 


152 


THE    FRENCH    IN    THE   ALLEGHENY   VALLEY. 


Wei'ser,  but  he  overtook  them  at  Frankstown,  as  they 
had  been  delayed  by  the  iUness  of  some  of  the  men. 
The  goods  were  brought  along  but  slowly.  At  the 
Shawanese  cabins  Weiser  met  twenty  of  Croghan's 
horses  on  the  way  to  convey  the  goods  from  Franks- 
town.  On  the  second  day  after  Weiser's  arrival  at 
Logstown,  the  Indians  set  off  in  their  canoes,  very 
cheerily,  no  doubt,  to  bring  in  the  goods.  Weiser 
expected  that  they  would  be  at  Chartier's  town  by 
the  time  the  canoes  would  get  there  ;  but  they  had 
not  come.  September  eleventh  the  goods  had  not  yet 
arrived,  and  Weiser  began  to  be  uneasy,  as  he  feared 
that  they  might  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  enemies. 
He  desired  the  Indians  to  send  some  of  their  young 
men  out  to  meet  the  people  with  the  goods,  and  not 
to  come  back  until  they  had  intelligence  of  them,  if 
they  had  to  go  all  the  way  to  Frankstown,  where  he 
had  last  seen  them.  Accordingly,  two  Indians  and 
a  white  man  were  sent  on  this  expedition,  but  they 
failed  to  obey  orders,  as  in  two  days  they  were  back, 
having  been  only  as  far  as  Chartier's  town,  and  having 
seen  nothing  of  the  goods.  Two  days  afterwards, 
however,  the  goods  arrived,  very  much  to  the  relief 
of  Weiser  and  the  satisfaction  of  the  red  men.  They 
had  been  detained  on  account  of  the  floods  in  the 


-wm'£ssi^&iiiuis..4'- 


WEISER's    mission    to    the    OHIO. 


153 


as  they 
e  men. 
At  the 
Dghan's 
Franks- 
rival  at 
2S,  very 
Weiser 
[own  by 
hey  had 
1  not  yet 
le  feared 
snemies. 
ir  young 
and  not 
them,  if 
here  he 
ians  and 
out  they 
-re  back, 
d  having 
ervvards, 
le   relief 
They 
s  in  the 


creeks,  and  because  one  of  the  sick  men   had  to  be 
sent  back  from  Frankstown  to  the  settlements. 

Weiser  being  informed  that  the  Wyandotts  and 
Delawares  were  contemplating  a  return  to  the  French, 
sent  a  messenger  to  the  Delawares  at  Beaver  Creek 
with  a  string  of  wampum,  to  learn  the  truth  of  the 
matter.  The  Delawares  returned  him  a  string  of 
wampum,  with  the  assurance  that  the  report  was  false. 
He  then  held  a  council  with  the  chiefs  of  the  Wyan- 
dotts and  inquired  into  their  number,  their  reasons 
for  abandoning  the  French,  what  correspondence 
they  had  with  the  Six  Nations,  etc.  "They  informed 
me,"  he  says,  "their  coming  away  from  the  French 
was  because  of  the  hard  usage  they  received  from 
them  ;  that  they  would  always  get  their  young  men 
to  go  to  war  against  the  enemies,  and  would  use  them 
as  their  own  people,  that  is,  like  slaves  ;  and  their 
goods  were  so  dear  that  they  (the  Indians)  could  not 
buy  them  ;  that  there  were  one  hundred  fighting  men 
that  came  over  to  join  the  English,  seventy  were  left 
behind  at  another  town  a  good  distance  off,  and  they 
hoped  they  would  follow  them  ;  that  they  had  a  very 
good  correspondence  with  the  Six  Nations  for  many 
years,  and  were  one  people  with  them ;  that  they 
could  wish  the  Six  Nations  would  act  more  briskly 
against  the  French ;  that  about  fifty  years  ago  they 


i.1 


154 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


made  a  treaty  of  friendship  with  the  governor  of  New 
York  at  Albany  ;  and  they  showed  me  a  large  belt 
of  wampum  they  had  received  from  the  said  governor, 
as  from  the  king  of  Great  Britain.  The  belt  was 
twenty-five  grains  wide  and  two  hundred  and  sixty- 
five  long,  very  curiously  wrought.  There  were  seven 
images  of  men  holding  one  another  by  the  hand — the 
first  signifying  the  governor  of  New  York,  or  rather, 
as  he  said,  the  king  of  Great  Britain  ;  the  second, 
the  Mohawks  ;  the  third,  the  Oneidas  ;  the  fourth, 
the  Cajugas ;  the  fifth,  the  Onondagers  ;  the  sixth,  the 
Senecas  ;  the  seventh,  the  Owandats  ;  and  two  rows 
of  black  wampum  under  their  feet,  through  the  whole 
length  of  the  belt,  to  signify  the  road  from  Albany 
through  the  Five  Nations  to  the  Owandats  ;  that  six 
years  ago  they  had  sent  deputies  with  the  same  belt 
to  Albany  to  renew  the  friendship." 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  council,  Weiser  treated 
the  assembled  chiefs  to  a  quart  of  whiskey  and  a  roll 
of  tobacco.  The  Indian  seems  always  to  have  had  a 
lively  idea  of  his  greatest  needs,  and  the  white  man 
was  peculiarly  felicitous  in  ministering  to  them.  The 
deputies  present  from  the  various  tribes  on  the  waters 
of  the  Ohio  handed  in  the  numbers  of  their  fighting 
men.  They  wen  indicated  by  bundles  of  little  sticks 
tied  up,  and  varied  from  one  hundred  and  sixty-five 


w^mm 


lor  of  New 

large  belt 
governor, 
!  belt  was 
and  sixty- 
were  seven 
hand — the 

or  rather, 
le  second, 
the  fourth, 
e  sixth,  the 
i  two  rows 
1  the  whole 
Dm  Albany 
that  six 

same  belt 

>er  treated 
and  a  roll 
lave  had  a 
white  man 
hem.  The 
the  waters 
;ir  fighting 
ittle  sticks 
sixty-five 


WEISER'S    mission    to   the    OHIO. 


155 


to  fifteen.     The  numbers  footed   up  seven  hundred 
and  eighty-nine. 

But,  the  goods  having  arrived,  the  neighboring 
Indians  were  sent  for  again,  and  on  the  seventeenth 
of  September  a  general  council  was  held.  An  ad- 
dress was  made  to  the  Indians  by  Weiser,  in  which 
he  explained  to  them  why  it  was  that  the  government 
had  sent  out  the  goods  instead  of  the  weapons  which 
had  been  promised  ;  it  was  because  **  the  king  of 
Great  Britain  and  the  French  king  had  agreed  upon 
a  cessation  of  arms  for  six  months,  and  that  a  peace  ■ 
was  very  likely  to  follow."  He  also  warned  them  of 
the  Jeceitfulness  of  "a  French  peace  ;"  assured  them 
that  the  present  which  he  had  brought  was  intended 
"  to  strengthen  the  chain  of  friendship  "  between  the 
English  and  the  Indians;  gave  them  some  good 
advice  on  general  principlesj^  and  devoted  considera- 
ble attention  to  the  liquor  traffic  among  them.  "You 
have  of  late  made  frequent  complaints  against  the 
traders  bringing  so  much  rum  to  your  towns,"  he 
said,  "and  desire  it  might  be  stopped;  and  your 
brethren,  the  president  and  council,  made  an  act  ac- 
cordingly and  put  a  stop  to  it,  and  no  trader  was  to 
bring  any  rum  or  strong  drink  liquor  to  your  towns. 
But  it  seems  it  is  out  of  your  brethren's  power  to 
stop  it  entirely.     You  send  down  your  own  skins  by 


..'>' 


■y^i?\t'..^'.  •■-'■'.■Til 


156 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


the  traders  to  buy  rum  for  you.  You  go  yourselves 
and  fetch  horse-loads  of  strong  liquors  ;  only  the 
other  day  an  Indian  came  to  this  town  out  of  Mary- 
land with  three  horse-loads  of  liquor  ;  so  that  it  ap- 
pears you  love  it  so  well  that  you  cannot  be  without 
it.  You  know  very  well  that  the  country  near  the 
Endless  Mountains*  affords  strong  liquor,  and  the 
moment  the  traders  buy  it  they  are  gone  out  of  the 
inhabited  parts  and  are  traveling  to  this  place  with- 
out being  discovered  ;  besides  this,  you  never  agree 
about  it ;  one  will  have  it,  the  other  wont  (though 
very  few)  ;  a  third  says  he  will  have  it  cheaper ;  this 
last,  we  believe,  is  spoken  from  your  hearts."  Upon 
this  hit  his  auditors  laughed.  He  then  attempted  to 
fix  a  price  for  which  liquor  should  be  sold.  '*  If  a 
trader  offers  to  sell  whiskey  to  you,  and  will  not  let 
you  have  it  at  that  price,"  he  says,  "  you  may  take  it 
from  him  and  drink  it  for  nothing."  And  we  may 
be  sure  the  Indians  never  stood  out  for  a  second  in- 
vitation. The  council  being  ended,  the  goods  were 
divided  into  shares,  and  so  distributed  as  to  give  the 
Indians  "  great  satisfaction." 

Two  days  afterwards  several  Indians  came  as  depu- 
ties to  Weiser's  lodging  to  return  the  thanks  of  the 

♦  The  Allegheny  range,  called  by  the  Six  Nations,  Tyannuntaseta,  or 
Endless  Hills. 


SY. 

yourselves 
only  the 
:  of  Mary- 
hat  it  ap- 
)e  without 
^  near  the 
•,  and  the 
out  of  the 
lace  with- 
sver  agree 
it  (though 
iper ;  this 
;."  Upon 
empted  to 
1  "If  a 
ill  not  let 
lay  take  it 
d  we  may 
second  in- 
)ods  were 
o  give  the 


WEISER'S    mission   to   the    OHIO. 


157 


red  men  for  his  kindness.  **  Our  brethren  have 
indeed  tied  our  hearts  to  theirs,"  they  say;  "  we  at 
preSwwL  can  but  return  thanks  with  an  empty  hand 
till  another  opportunity  serves  to  do  it  sufficiently." 
They  also  informed  him  that  they  often  had  occasion 
to  send  messengers  to  Indian  towns  and  nations  on 
business  of  the  tribes,  and  that  they  had  nothing  with 
which  to  recompense  the  messengers  or  to  get 
wampum.  "I  had  saved  a  piece  of  strand,"  says 
Weiser,  "and  half  a  barrel  of  powder,  one  hundred 
pounds  of  lead,  ten  shirts,  six  knifes,  and  one  pound 
of  vermilion,  and  gave  it  to  them  for  the  aforesaid 
use.  They  returned  many  thanks  and  were  mightily 
pleased." 

On  the  nineteenth  of  September,  Weiser  set  out  on 
his  return,  and  ten  days  later  we  find  him  at  Penns- 
burg,  in  Cumberland  county,  writing  out  the  report 
of  his  mission. 


e  as  depu- 
nks  of  the 


nnuntaseta,  or 


mmr- 


158 


THE    FRENCH    IN   THE   ALLEGHENY   VALLEY. 


Ml 


POST'S  FIRST  VISIT  TO  THE  WESTERN 

INDIANS. 

About  the  middle  of  July,  1758,  Christian  Freder- 
ick Post  received  orders  from  the  governor  of  Penn- 
sylvania to  proceed  to  the  western  part  of  the  prov- 
ince and  endeavor  to  withdraw  the  Indian  tribes  there 
from  the  French  interest.  Post  was  an  unassuming 
Moravian  preacher.  He  had  come  from  Germany  in 
1742.  For  several  years  he  had  preached  among  the 
Indians,  and  he  had  married  a  baptized  Mohican 
woman.  His  own  temperament  and  his  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  Indian  character  caused  him  to  be 
well  fitted  for  the  duty  with  which  he  was  entrusted. 
He  was  accompanied  by  Tom  Hickman  (an  interpre- 
ter), and  a  number  of  Indians,  among  them  Pisque- 
tumen  and  Wellemeghihink.*  The  Indians  were  at 
Germantown,  a  hamlet  a  few  miles  north  of  Philadel- 

*  In  the  Pennsylvania  Archives  we  find  his  name  printed  Willm  Mc- 
Kaking.  See  Volume  IIL  page  520.  In  Proud's  History  of  Pennsylvania 
it  appears  as  M^/7/i/»»<';f/V^e«  and  Wdlemeghihink.  See  Volume  II.,  Ap- 
pendix. 


s 


' 


post's  first  visit  to  the  western  INDIANS.       159 

phia.  When  Post  arrived  there  on  the  fifteenth  of 
July,  he  found  them  all  drunk,  except  Wellcmeghi- 
hink,  who  had  gone  to  Philadelphia  for  a  horse  that  had 
been  promised  him.  Post  waited  until  near  noon  the 
next  day  for  his  return,  and  when  he  came  he  was  so 
drunk  that  he  could  get  no  farther,  and  Post  was 
obliged  to  proceed  without  him.  Post  had  a  good 
deal  of  trouble  to  get  his  Indians  off,  as  they  made 
out  to  be  generally  cither  drunk  or  sick  ;  but  on  the 
sixteenth  of  the  month,  he  at  length  got  properly 
started  on  his  perilous  journey.  At  Fort  Allen, 
where  he  arrived  on  the  twentieth,  he  met  with  seri- 
ous opposition  from  King  Teedyuscung.  Two  years 
before,  at  Easton,  Teedyuscung  had  made  a  treaty 
of  peace  and  friendship  with  the  English.  He  was 
now  about  fifty  years  old.  He  is  described  in  the 
records  of  the  time  as  "a  lusty,  rawboned  man, 
haughty  and  very  desirous  of  respect  and  command." 
He  had  also  a  great  capacity  for  fire-water.  "He 
can  drink  three  quarts  or  a  gallon  of  rum  a  day  with- 
out being  drunk."  Hence  there  is  no  telling  what 
quantity  he  must  have  imbibed  on  those  festive  occa- 
sions when  he  became  intoxicated,  as  at  the  council 
at  Easton,  when  it  is  said  that  he  and  "his  wild  com- 
pany were  perpetually  drunk,  very  much  on  the 
Gascoon,  and  at  times  abusive  to  the  inhabitants." 


I! 


V 

f^ 

\ 

t 

■  1 

1 

11 
i! 

1/ 


\V    ::'! 


i6o 


THE    FRENCH    IN   THE    ALLEGHENY   VALLEY. 


He  was  also  "full  of  himself,  saying  frequently  that 
which  side  soever  he  took  must  stand,  and  the  other 
fall."*  He  declared  that  he  had  been  made  king  by 
ten  nations,  namely,  the  united  Six  Nations,  and  the 
Delawares,  Shawanese,  Mohicans,  and  Munceys.  "He 
carried  the  belt  of  peace  with  him,  "he  said,  "and  who- 
ever would  might  take  hold  of  it."  At  this  treaty  he 
declared  that  he  was  present  by  the  appointment  of 
these  ten  nations,  and  that  what  he  did  they  would  all 
confirm.  Yet  a  day  or  two  afterwards  he  qualified 
this  statement.  He  was  not  sure  that  he  could  pre- 
vail or  the  Ohio  Indians.  "  I  cannot  tell,"  he  said, 
"that  they  will  leave  off  doing  mischief;"  and  he 
advised  the  English  to  make  themselves  strong  on 
that  side.  He  was  right  as  to  the  Indians  on  the 
Ohio.  His  treaty  was  effective  so  far  as  regarded  the 
Indians  on  the  Susquehanna,  but  the  tribes  in  the 
Ohio  valley  scouted  his  authority. 

Teedyuscung  now  protested  against  Post's  proceed- 
ing on  his  mission.  "  His  reasons  were,"  says  Post, 
**  that  he  was  afraid  the  Indians  would  kill  me,  or  the 
French  get  me ;  and  if  that  should  be  the  case  he 
should  be  very  sorry,  and  did  not  know  what  he 
should  do."  His  opposition  was  such  that  but  three 
of  the   party  offered  to  go  any  farther  with   Post. 

♦  Pennsylvania  Archives,  Volume  II.  page  724. 


post's  first  visit  to  the  western  INDIANS.       l6l 


**We  concluded,"  says  Post,  '*  to  go  through  the  in- 
habitants, under  the  Blue  mountains,  to  Fort  Augusta, 
on  Susquehanna."  This  fort  stood  at  Shamokin, 
where  Sunbury  now  stands.  It  was  built  in  the  sum- 
n^er  of  1756.  Post  arrived  there  on  the  twenty-fifth 
of  July.  "  It  gave  me  great  pain,"  he  says,  **  to  ob- 
serve many  plantations  deserted  and  laid  waste,  and  I 
could  not  but  reflect  on  the  distress  the  poor  owners 
must  be  drove  to,  who  once  lived  in  plcniy,  and  I 
prayed  the  Lord  to  restore  peace  and  prosperity  to 
the  distressed."  At  Fort  Augusta  the  unpleasant 
news  was  brought  by  some  Indians  that  the  English 
army  had  been  destroyed  at  Ticonderoga,  which  so 
discouraged  one  of  his  companions,  * '  Lappopetung's 
son,"  that  he  refused  to  accompany  the  expedition 
any  farther.  This  reduced  Post's  original  company 
to  only  two  men,  Pisquetumen  and  Tom  Hickman, 
He  must  here  have  recruited  his  force,  as  we  know 
that  he  afterwards  had  at  least  four  men  with  him. 
One  of  those  whom  iie  here  picked  up  was  Shamokin 
Daniel,   and  Shamokin  Daniel  afterward  turned  out 

to  be  a  thorn  in  the  flesh.*     At  the  fort  they  were 


fit 


*The  Indians  at  Shamokin  were  a  very  depraved  set.  Good  David 
Brainerd,  vihj  had  visited  them  some  years  before,  says  of  them  :  "The 
Indians  of  this  place  are  accounted  the  most  drunken,  mischievous,  and 
ruffian-like  fellows  of  any  in  these  parts  ;  and  Satan  seems  to  have  his  seat 
in  this  town  in  an  eminent  manner." — Brainerd' s  Diary,  Sept.  rj,  ^//f. 


i: 


A 

i_ 

! 
1 

162 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


furnished  with  everything  necessary  for  the  journey, 
and  on  the  twenty-seventh  they  ' '  set  out  with  good 
courage."  After  various  adventures  they  came,  on 
the  seventh  of  August,  in  sight  of  Fort  Venango.* 
"I  prayed  the  Lord  to  blind  them,"  says  Post,  "as 
he  did  the  enemies  of  Lot  and  EHs}:a,  that  I  might 
pass  unknown."  They  slept  that  night  within  half 
gunshot  of  the  fort.  On  the  tenth  they  met  an  In- 
dian, and  one  whom  Post  believed  to  be  a  renegade 
English  trader,  from  whom  they  le.  rned  that  they 
had  lost  the  v.'ay,  and  that  they  were  within  twenty 
miles  of  Fort  Duquesne.  Upon  this  they  struck  off 
to  the  right,  and  slept  that  night  "between  two 
mountains."  On  the  second  day  after  this  they  came 
to  the  Connoquenessing,  or,  as  Post  writes  it,  the 
Conaquanoshon,  where,  he  says,  was  an  old  Indian 
town,  fifteen  miles  from  Kushkushkee.f  "The  point 
at  which  Post  saw  the  Conaquanoshon  was  probably 
about  where  Harmony  now  stands,  as  this  village  is 
just  fifteen  miles  in  a  straight  line  from  Newport, 
which  occupies  the  site  of  Cushcushcunk,  or  Kosh- 

*This  was  the  French  fort  at  the  mouth  of  French  Creek,  It  was  called 
by  the  French,  Fort  Machault. 

•|*This  name  is  variously  spelled  in  the  old  records.  In  Vl^eiser's  journal 
it  is  written  Coscosky;  in  Washington's  journal,  Kuskvsko ;  in  Post's  jour- 
nal, Kushkuskkee ;  while  two  other  varieties  of  spelling  are  also  here  pre- 
sented. 


9 


1 1  was  called 


post's  first  visit  to  the  western  INDIANS.       163 

kosh-kung.  If  this  supposition  is  correct  there  must 
have  then  been,  in  1758,  *an  old  Indian  town'  upon 
or  very  near  the  ground  on  which  Harmony  is 
built."* 

From  this  point  they  sent  Pisquetumen  to  Kush- 
kushkee  in  advance  of  the  party,  with  a  message  of 
friendship  and  explanation.  About  noon  they  met 
some  Shawanese  that  had  formerly  lived  at  Wyom- 
ing. They  knew  Post,  and  greeted  him  very  kindly. 
"I  saluted  them,"  says  he,  "and  assured  them  that 
the  government  of  Pennsylvania  wished  them  well, 
and  wished  to  iive  in  peace  and  friendship  with 
them."  Before  they  reached  the  town,  two  men 
came  out  to  meet  them  and  bring  them  in.  King 
Beaver  seemed  to  be  the  chief  man  in  the  place.  He 
received  them,  and  showed  them  a  large  house  in 
which  they  could  lodge.  The  news  soon  spread, 
and  the  people  gathered  about  to  see  them.  There 
were  about  sixty  young  warriors  who  came  and  shook 
hands  with  them.  King  Beaver  spoke  to  the  people. 
"Boys,"  said  he,  "hearken.  We  sat  here  without 
ever  expecting  again  to  see  our  brethren,  the  En- 
glish ;  but  now  one  of  them  is  brought  before  you, 
that  you  may  see  your  brethren,  the  English,  with 
your  own  eyes ;    and  I   wish  you   may  take  it  into 

*  History  of  Butler  Co.,  Pa.,  p.  15, 


■!ii 


i 

ill 

■  'I 

u 

HI 

;!i 
.  i; 

r!' 


n  ^ 


M 


164 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


consideration,"  Then,  turning  to  Post,  he  said: 
"Brother,  I  am  very  glad  to  see  you ;  I  never  thought 
we  should  have  had  the  opportunity  to  see  one  another 
more ;  but  now  I  am  very  glad,  and  thank  God,  who 
has  brought  you  to  us.  It  is  a  great  satisfaction  to 
me."  To  this  address  of  welcome  Post  replied: 
"Brother,  I  rejoice  in  my  heart;  I  thank  God,  who 
has  brought  me  to  you.  I  bring  you  joyful  news 
from  the  governor  and  people  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
from  your  children,  the  Friends ;  and,  as  I  have 
words  of  great  consequence,  I  will  lay  them  before 
you  when  all  the  kings  and  captains  are  called  to- 
gether from  the  other  towns." 

Messengers  were  at  once  dispatched  to  the  sur- 
rounding towns  and  villages,  but  it  was  not  until  the 
seventeenth  of  the  month  that  the  different  "kings 
and  captains  "  could  be  got  together.  In  the  mean- 
time, Post  had  been  treated  with  the  greatest  kind- 
ness. The  Indians  seemed  really  pleased  that  he  had 
visited  them.  They  came  to  his  lodgings,  where  they 
would  remain  and  dance  sometimes  until  after  mid- 
night. Some  Frenchmen,  who  were  in  the  town 
building  houses  for  the  Indians,  also  came  to  see 
him.  Among  those  who  came  to  the  great  council 
were  two  Indian  captains  from  Fort  Duquesne.  They 
were  very  surly.     ' '  When  I   went  to  shake  hands 


le  said : 
thought 
:  another 
od,  who 
iction  to 
repHed : 
od,  who 
ful  news 
mia,  and 
I  have 
n  before 
ailed  to- 

the  sur- 
until  the 
;  **  kings 
le  mean- 
est kind- 
it  he  had 
lere  they 
Jter  mid- 
he  town 
2  to  see 
,t  council 
They 
ce  hands 


post's  first  visit  to  the  western  INDIANS.       165 

with  one  of  them,"  says  Post,  "  he  gave  me  his  little 
finger;  the  other  withdrew  his  hand  entirely;  upon 
which  I  appeared  as  stout  as  either,  and  withdrew 
my  hand  as  quick  as  I  could.  Their  rudeness  to 
me,"  he  adds,  **was  taken  very  ill  by  the  other 
captains,  who  treated  them  in  the  same  manner  in 
their  turn."  With  these  two  messengers  from  Fort 
Duquesne  had  come  a  French  captain  and  fifteen 
men.  But  Post  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  them  ; 
he  had  been  sent  to  the  Indians,  he  said,  and  not  to 
the  French.  In  the  councils  that  followed,  the  In- 
dians expressed  a  desire  for  peace.  "All  the  In- 
dians," said  they,  "a  great  way  from  this,  even  be- 
yond the  lakes,  wish  for  a  peace  with  the  English, 
and  have  desired  us,  as  we  are  the  nearest  of  kin,  if 
we  see  the  English  incline  to  a  peace,  to  hold  it  fast." 
They  entirely  ignored  Teedyuscung,  however,  and 
would  not  hear  of  any  treaty  that  had  been  made  by 
him. 

But,  as  they  said,  they  could  not  make  peace 
alone;  it  was  necessary  that  all  should  join  in  it,  or  it 
could  be  no  peace.  They  therefore  proposed  to  go 
to  a  neighboring  town  called  Sawkunk,*  and   con- 

*Sawkunk  was  an  important  Indian  town  that  stood  at  the  conf.uence 
of  the  Big  Beaver  and  Ohio  rivers.  The  name  signifies  "at  the  mouth,'* 
or  where  one  stream  flows  into  another.  See  Boyd's  Indian  Local 
Names,  page  43. 


t 


i'u  i 
II' ' 


V: 


i66 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


sider  the  matter  further  there.  To  this  Post  con- 
sented, and  they  set  out  on  the  twentieth.  The 
party  consisted  of  twenty-five  horesmen  and  fifteen 
foot.  They  arrived  at  Sawkunk  in  the  afternoon. 
Post's  reception  there  was  not  so  friendly  as  at  Kush- 
kushkee.  "The  people  of  the  town  were  much  dis- 
turbed at  my  coming,"  says  he,  "and  received  me  in 
a  very  rough  manner.  They  surrounded  me  with 
drawn  knives  in  their  hands,  i;i  such  a  manner  that  I 
could  hardly  get  along. "  They  evidently  thirsted  for 
his  blood,  and  seemed  to  desire  some  pretense  to  kill 
him ;  but  some  Indians  coming  up,  whom  Post  had 
formerly  known,  who  now  greeted  him  in  a  friendly 
manner,  the  behavior  of  the  others  quickly  changed. 
Here  it  was  proposed  that  he  should  proceed  to  Fort 

Duqucsne,  as  there  were  eight  different  nations  there 
who  desired   to  hear  hir.   message.     To    this    Post 

earnestly  objected,  but  in  vain  ;  the  Indians  insisted, 
told  him  he  need  not  fear  the  French,  that  they  would 
carry  him  "in  their  bosoms."  They  accordingly  set 
out  for  the  fort,  but  went  only  as  far  as  Logstown 
that  day.  The  next  day,  August  24,  they  con- 
tinued their  journey,  and  in  the  afternoon  came 
in  sight  of  the  fort.  They  did  not  cross  over, 
but  remained  on  the  north  bank  of  the  river. 
As   they  had  come   up   the   river  from   Logstown, 


post's  first  visit  to  the  western  INDIANS.       167 


)st  con- 
1.  The 
1  fifteen 
ernoon. 
t  Kush- 
uch  dis- 
ci me  in 
ne  with 
r  that  I 
sted  for 
e  to  kill 
ost  had 
friendly- 
hanged, 
to  Fort 

IS  there 
IS    Post 

nsisted, 

y  would 

ngly  set 

Dgstown 

ly   con- 

n    came 

s    over, 

|e   river. 

gstown, 


the  place  where  they  halted  was,  perhaps,  a  little 
below  the  point  where  the  fort  stood.  Immediately 
all  the  Indian  chiefs  at  the  fort  crossed  over,  when 
King  Beaver  presented  Post  to  them,  saying :  **  Here 
is  our  English  brother,  who  has  brought  good  news." 
Some  of  the  chiefs  signified  their  pleasure  at  seeing 
him  ;  but  one  old,  deaf  Onondago  denounced  him. 
"  I  do  not  know  this  Swannock,"  said  he;  "it  may 
be  that  you  know  him.  I,  the  Shawanese,  and  our 
father  do  not  know  him."  The  next  day,  however, 
he  acknowleged  that  he  had  been  wrong ;  he  said 
that  **  he  had  now  cleaned  himself,"  and  hoped  they 
would  forgive  him. 

The  French,  and  some  of  the  Indians,  demanded 
that  Post  should  be  sent  into  the  fort ;  but  the  other 
Indians  would  not  hear  to  this.  On  the  twenty-fifth 
the  chiefs  assembled  again  and  had  a  great  deal  of 
counselling  among  themselves.  The  French  were 
still  intriguing  to  get  Post  into  their  hands,  but  his 
friends  would  not  give  him  up.  He  was  told  not  to 
stir  from  the  fire,  for  the  French  had  offered  a  great 
reward  for  his  scalp,  and  that  some  parties  were  de- 
sirous to  secure  it.  *'  Accordingly  I  stuck  as  close  to 
the  fire,"  says  he,  "as  if  I  had  been  chained  there." 
The  following  day  the  Indians  and  a  number  of  French 
officers  crrossed  the  river  again  to  hear  what  Post  had 


i68 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


to  say.  They  brought  with  them  a  table  and  writing 
materials,  to  take  down  what  might  be  said.  Post 
stood  in  the  middle  of  them  and  spoke  at  consider- 
able length  ^*  with  a  free  conscience."  The  French, 
he  says,  did  not  seem  pleased  with  his  speech. 
**  Brethren  at  Allegheny,"  said  he,  "hear  what  I 
say  :  Every  one  that  lays  hold  of  this  belt  of  peace, 
I  proclaim  peace  to  them  from  the  English  nation, 
and  let  you  know  that  the  great  king  of  England 
does  not  incline  to  have  war  with  the  Indians ;  but  he 
wants  to  live  in  peace  and  love  with  them,  if  they 
will  lay  down  the  hatchet  and  leave  off  war  with  him. 
We  let  you  know  that  the  great  king  of  England  has 
sent  a  great  number  of  warriors  into  this  country,  not 
to  go  to  war  with  the  Indians  in  their  towns,  no,  not 
at  all ;  these  warriors  are  going  against  the  French. 
By  this  belt  I  take  you  by  the  hand,  and  lead  you  at 
a  distance  from  the  French,  for  your  own  safety,  that 
your  legs  may  not  be  stained  with  blood.  Come 
away  on  this  side  the  mountain,  where  we  may 
oftener  converse  together,  and  where  your  flesh  and 
blood  lives.  I  have  almost  finished  what  I  had  to 
say,  and  hope  it  will  be  to  your  satisfaction.  My 
wish  is  that  we  may  join  close  together  in  that  old 
brotherly  love  and  friendship  which  our  grandfathers 
had,   so  that  all  the  nations  may  hear  and  see  us. 


post's  first  visit  to  the  western  INDIANS.       169 


I  writing 
I.  Post 
onsider- 
French, 
speech. 

what  I 
f  peace, 

nation. 
England 
;  but  he 

if  they 
ith  him. 
land  has 
itry,  not 

no,  not 
French. 
1  you  at 
Jty,  that 
Come 
A^e  may 

esh  and 

had  to 
n.  My 
:hat  old 
dfathers 

see  us, 


and  have  the  benefit  of  it ;  and  if  you  have  any  un- 
easiness or  complaint  in  your  heart  and  mind,  do 
not  keep  it  to  yourself.  We  have  opened  the  road 
to  the  council  fire,  therefore,  my  brethren,  come 
and  acquaint  the  governor  with  it ;  you  will  be 
readily  heard,  and  full  justice  will  be  done  you." 

After  the  council  the  French  and  Indians  returned 
to  the  fort,  except  Post's  companions,  who  were 
about  seventy  in  number.  One  of  the  latter,  how- 
ever, Shamokin  Daniel,  went  over  to  the  fort,  though 
his  comrades  disapproved  it.  Here  he  had  some 
conversation  with  the  commandant,  and  soon  re- 
turned with  a  laced  coat  and  hat,  a  blanket,  shirts, 
ribbons,  a  new  gun,  powder,  lead,  etc.  He  was 
quite  a  changed  man.  He  reviled  Post  and  the  En- 
glish, and  "  behaved  in  a  very  proud,  saucy,  and  im- 
perious manner."  Post  was  informed  that  as  soon 
as  they  got  back  to  the  fort,  the  French  proposed 
to  the  Indians  to  cut  off  Post  and  his  party.  To 
this  the  Indians  would  not  consent.  "The  Dela- 
wares,"  said  they,  "are  a  strong  people,  and  are 
spread  to  a  great  distance,  and  whatever  they  agree 
to  must  be."  The  French  again  insisted  that  Post 
must  be  delivered  up  to  them  ;  but  the  Indians  re- 
fused to  do  so,  except  the  traitorous  Shamokin  Daniel, 
who  had  received  a  string  of  wampum  to  leave  him 


i 


rtTfiiBrtiniTiiiiifidrr'ili 


II 

1 

!( 

!• 

ill 

170 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


there.  Post's  friends  then  determined  that  he  should 
set  off  the  next  morning  before  day,  which  he  did. 
They  returned  through  Sawkunk,  and  arrived  at 
Kushkushkee  in  the  evening  of  the  twenty-eighth. 
Pisquetumen,  Tom  Hickman,  Shingiss,  and  the  ras- 
cally Shamokin  Daniel  were  of  the  party. 

Though  the  Delawares  had  treated  Post  kindly, 
and  had  refused  to  deliver  him  to  the  French,  they 
were  not  ready  yet  to  surrender  themselves  to  the  En- 
glish cause.  They  were  suspicious  of  the  English, 
and  of  their  good  intentions.  "It  is  told  us,"  said 
they,  after  they  got  back  to  Kushkushkee,  "that 
you  and  the  French  contrived  the  war  to  waste  the 
Indians  between  you  ;  and  that  you  and  the  French 
intended  to  divide  the  land  between  you.  This  was 
told  us  by  the  chief  of  the  Indian  traders  ;  and  they 
said  further,  *  Brothers,  this  is  the  last  time  we  shall 
come  among  you,  for  the  French  and  English  intend 
to  kill  all  the  Indians,  and  then  divide  the  land  among 
themselves.'  " 

**  I  am  very  sorry,"  answered  Post,  **  to  see  you 
so  jealous.  I  am  your  own  flesh  and  blood,  and  sooner 
than  I  would  tell  you  any  story  that  would  be  of  hurt 
to  you  or  your  children,  I  would  suffer  death.  And 
if  I  did  not  know  that  it  was  the  desire  of  the  gov- 
ernor that  we  should  renew  our  brotherly  love  and 


post's  first  visit  to  the  western  INDIANS.       171 


e  should 
I  he  did. 
rived  at 
^-eighth, 
the  ras- 

[  kindly, 
ich,  they 
)  the  En- 
English, 
us,"  said 
e,    "that 
rvaste  the 
e  French 
This  was 
and  they 
;  we  shall 
sh  intend 
id  among 

D  see  you 
nd  sooner 
be  of  hurt 
th.  And 
'  the  gov- 
love  and 


friendship  that  subsisted  between  our  grandfathers,  I 
would  not  have  undertaken  this  journey.  I  do  assure 
you  of  mine  and  the  people's  honesty." 

In  a  council  held  on  the  fourth  of  September,  the 
chiefs  addressing  him,  said  : 

Brother,  you  very  well  know  that  you  have  collected  all  your  young 
men  about  the  country,  which  makes  a  large  body,  and  now  they  ?.r?  =»ind- 
ing  before  our  doors.  You  come  with  good  news  and  fine  speeches.  This 
is  what  makes  us  jealous,  and  we  do  not  know  what  to  think  of  it.  If  you 
had  brought  the  news  of  peace  before  your  army  had  begun  to  march,  it 
would  have  caused  a  great  deal  more  good.  We  do  not  ao  readily  believe 
you,  because  a  great  many  great  men  and)  traders  have  told  us,  long 
before  the  war,  that  you  and  the  French  intended  to  join  and  cut  all  of 
the  Indians  off. 

To  this  speech  Post  replied  : 

Brothers,  I  love  you  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart.  I  am  extremely 
sorry  to  see  the  jealousy  so  deeply  rooted  in  your  hearts  and  minds.  I  have 
told  you  the  truth  ;  and  yet,  if  I  was  to  tell  it  you  a  hundred  times,  it 
seems  you  would  not  rightly  believe  me.  I  do  now  declare,  before  God,  that 
the  English  never  did,  nor  never  will,  join  with  the  French  to  destroy 
you. 

Having  performed  the  task  that  had  been  given 
him  to  do,  Post  now  desired  to  return  home ;  but  the 
Indians,  on  one  pretext  or  another,  delayed  him  day 
after  day.  They  were  not  entirely  satisfied  in  their 
minds.  **  It  is  a  troublesome  cross  and  heavy  yoke 
to  draw  this  people,"  wrote  Post;  "they  can  punish 
and   squeeze  a  body's   heart    to   the    utmost.     My 


lili 


i 


1! 


■n 


11 


■J  f 


II 


172 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


heart  has  been  very  heavy  here,  because  they  kept 
me  for  no  purpose.  The  Lord  knows  how  they  have 
been  counselling  about  my  life ;  but  they  did  not 
know  who  was  my  Protector  and  Deliverer."  At 
length,  however,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  eighth  of 
September,  Post  and  his  party  set  of^  from  Kushkush- 
kee  and  proceeded  ten  miles  on  their  return  journey. 
They  suffered  much  from  hunger  and  exposure  on 
the  way,  and  were  in  great  danger  from  the  enemy, 
but  finally  arrived  at  Fort  Augusta,  on  the  twenty- 
second,  "very  weary  and  hungry,  but  greatly  re- 
joiced of  our  return  from  this  tedious  journey." 


post's  second  mission. 


173 


:y  kept 
)y  have 
did  not 
•."  At 
[hth  of 
shkush- 
ourney. 
'^ure  on 
enemy, 
twenty- 
atly  re- 


POST'S  SECOND  MISSION. 

Post  had  but  little  leisure  to  recover  from  the 
fatigue  of  his  journey  when  he  was  desired  by  the 
governor  to  proceed  again  to  the  Indians  on  the  Ohio. 
Among  his  companions  were  two  of  the  persons  who 
had  been  with  him  before — the  chief  Pisquetumen  and 
the  interpreter,  Tom  Hickman.  He  was  also  accom- 
panied by  Captain  Bull  and  Mr.  Hays.  He  was  di- 
rected to  follow  Forbes'  army,  in  order  to  receive 
further  instructions  from  the  general.  It  was  now 
the  latter  part  of  October.  Poirt  had  a  good  deal  of 
the  same  kind  of  trouble  in  getting  off  as  in  his  pre- 
vious journey.  When  he  was  about  ready  to  start, 
he  found  Pisquetumen  helplessly  drunk,  and  the  next 
day  that  worthy  was  so  sick  that  Post  was  much  dis- 
composed. Mr.  Hays  had  already  preceded  him  with 
a  company  of  Indians,  some  distance,  and  when  Post, 
with  the  hopeful  Pisquetumen,  came  up  to  them  he 
found  them  also  very  ill — whether  or  not  from  the 


■'■J' 


I 

1 

1 

T,C-r. 

174 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


same  source  as  Pisquetumen's  illness,  is  not  stated. 
When  they  had  recovered  sufficiently  to  set  out,  they 
objected  strongly  to  proceeding  after  the  army,  and 
insisted  on  going  through  the  woods.  Post  reasoned 
with  them,  and  they  at  length  reluctantly  consented 
to  go.  Post  left  the  plantation  of  Conrad  Weiser, 
about  fourteen  miles  west  of  Reading,  on  the  twenty- 
eighth  of  October,  and  in  the  afternoon  of  the  seventh 
of  November,  ** before  sun  set,"  he  arrived  at  the 
Loyalhanna,  where  he  was  "gladly  received"  by 
General  ForLc?  He  remained  here  until  nearly  noon 
of  the  ninth,  awaiting  his  instructions  from  the  gen- 
eral, While  here  he  was  asked  by  some  of  the 
"colonels  and  chief  commanders  "  how  he  could 
rule  and  bring  these  people  to  reason,  "making  no 
use  of  gun  or  sword,"  and  he  replied  that  it  was  done 
"  by  no  other  means  than  by  faith." 

About  noon  Posv  lesumed  h^  journey.  He  was 
escorted  by  a  company  of  one  hundred  men  under 
command  of  Captain  Haslet.  They  did  not  attempt 
to  proceed  by  a 'direct  course  to  Ku  likushking, 
which  was  Po.  t's  obj^^ctive  point.  Only  a  few  weeks 
before  the  enemy  had  made  a  vigorous  attack  on  the 
post  at  Loyalhanna,  and  though  they  had  been  re- 
pulsed, the  woods  tov/ard  Fort  Duquesne  were  swarm- 
ing with  thtm.     Hence  Post  and  his  escort  made  a 


post's  second  mission. 


i/S 


detour  to  the  right.  The  next  morning,  having 
conducted  them  into  a  region  of  at  least  comparative 
safety,  Captain  Haslet,  with  the  greater  part  of  the 
force  left  him,  but  directed  Lieutenant  Hays  with 
fourteen  men  to  accompany  Post  to  the  Allegheny 
river.  Post's  party,  on  the  morning  of  the  eleventh, 
passed  through  Kekkeknepalin,  an  old  Shawanese 
town,  which  stood  on  the  site  of  the  present 
town  of  Johnstown,  in  Cambria  county.  Post 
describes  it  as  being  so  "  grown  up  thick  with  weeds, 
briars,  and  bushes,"  that  they  could  scarcely  get 
through.  It  was  the  same  place  called  by  Conrad 
Weiser,  ten  years  before,  the  "Showonese  cabbins. "  It 
had  no  doubt  been  long  abandoned.  The  inhabitants 
had  gone  farther  w^<5*-  and  a  week  later,  at  Kush- 
kushking.  Post  met  the  chief  Kekkeknepalin,  for 
whom  the  town  was  doubtless  named.  At  three 
o'clock  of  the  same  day  they  came  to  Kiskemeneco. 
Post  describes  it  as  "an  old  Indian  town,  a  rich  bot- 
tom, well  timbered,  good  fine  English  grass,  well 
watered,  and  lies  waste  since  the  war  began."  Where 
this  interesting  town  lay  it  is  impossible  to  say.  It 
was  somewhere  on  or  near  the  Kiskiminetas,  and 
somewhat  more  than  half  way  between  Kekkeknepalin 
and  "  an  old  Shawano  town  "  that  stood  on  the  east 
bank  of  the  Allegheny.     The  distance  from  Johns- 


176 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


I!, 


town  to  the  mouth  'of  the  Kiskiminetas  is  not  less 
than  sixty-five  miles,  foUov/ing-  the  course  of  the 
stream,  yet  Post  reached  the  old  Shawano  town, 
which  we  presume  was  a  little  below  the  mouth  of 
the  Kiskiminetas,  at  one  o'clock  of  the  next  day  after 
he  passed  through  Kekkeknepalin.  Although  they 
had  not  yet  reached  the  Allegheny,  yet  at  Kiske- 
meneco  they  agreed  to  allow  Lieutenant  Hays  to 
depart  with  his  detachment. 

The  old  Shawanese  town  on  the  bank  of  the  Alle- 
gheny was  not  a  very  inviting  place.  Post  remained 
there  over  the  night  of  the  twelfth  ;  *  *  the  wolves  and 
owls,"  he  says,  "  made  a  great  noise  in  the  night." 
They  rose  early  the  next  morning,  got  breakfast, 
and  then  finished  some  rafts  which  they  had  begun 
the  evening  before.  They  then  crossed  the  Alle- 
gheny, and  landed  "near  an  old  Indian  town." 
This  town  was  probably  Chartier '  s  old  town.  The 
evening  of  the  next  day  they  heard  the  great  guns 
at  Fort  Duquesne.  ''Whenever  I  looked  towards 
that  place,"  says  Post,  "I  felt  a  dismal  impression; 
the  very  place  seemed  shocking  and  dark.*' 

On  the  sixteenth  they  met  two  Indians  on  the  road, 
who  sat  down  with  them  to  dinner.  That  day  they 
reached  Kushkushking.  One  of  the  two  Indians 
they  had  fallen  in  with,  rode  before  to  let  the  people 


R!»»,'9«^ 


post's  second  mission. 


177 


lot  less 
of  the 
)  town, 
outh  of 
lay  after 
^h  they 
Kiske- 
"ays    to 

le  Alle- 
rmained 
ves  and 
night." 
eakfast, 
i  begun 
e  Alle- 
town." 
.  The 
at  guns 
:owards 
•ession ; 

le  road, 

ly  they 

Indians 

people 


in  the  town  know  of  Post's  arrival.  But  there  were 
very  few  people  in  the  town,  only  two  men  and  some 
women.     These,  however,  received  him  kindly. 

When  Lieutenant  Hayc  parted  from  Post,  he 
marched  away  to  his  fate.  On  that  same  day  a  party 
of  Indians  under  Kedeuscund,  attacked  the  van  of 
Forbes'  army  under  Colonel  Washington,  about  three 
miles  from  the  camp  at  Loyalhanna,  and  were  driven 
away.*  In  their  retreat  they  came  across  the  squad 
under  Lieutenant  Hays,  about  twelve  miles  from 
Fort  Duquesne.  What  Lieutenant  Hiys  was  doing 
within  twelve  miles  of  Fort  Duquesne,  unless  he  had 
lost  his  way,  it  is  impossible  to  determine.  At  all 
events  the  savages  fell  upon  him,  killed  the  lieutenant 
and  four  of  his  men,  took  five  prisoners,  while  the 
other  four  men  made  their  escape.  Iir  the  evening 
of  the  seventeenth,  the  day  after  Post's  arrival  at 
Kushkushking,  the  chief  Kekkeknepalin  came  in  from 
the  war,  and  reported  the  affair  of  Lieutenant  Hays. 
He  also  informed  Post  that  one  of  the  men  taken 
prisoner,  who  was  then  at  Sawkunk,  had  been  con- 
demned to  be  burned  at  the  stake.  The  doomed  man 
was  Sergeant  Henry  Osten.  Post  at  once  set  to  work 
to  try  to  save  him  from  this  terrible  fate.  He  had 
some  difficulty  to  find  a  messenger  who  would  go  to 

*  History  of  Western  Pennsylvania,  p.  139. 


Ill 


MP 


^ 


178 


THE  FRENe  *  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


Sawkunk,  but  at  length  he  prevailed  upon  an  Indian 
named  Compass,  for  five  hundred  black  wampum,  a 
shirt,  and  a  dollar,  to  go.  By  the  nineteenth  of  No- 
vember many  of  the  warriors  had  returned  home,  and 
the  town  was  now  full.  On  the  twentieth,  Sergeant 
Osten  was  brought  to  Kushkushking,  where  the  poor 
fellow  was  compelled  to  run  the  gauntlet,  and  was 
dreadfully  beaten.  "It  is  a  grievous  and  melan- 
choly sight,"  says  Post,  "  to  see  our  fellow  mortals 
so  abused."  By  dint  of  much  speech-making  and 
diplomacy,  however,  Post  succeeded  in  saving  him 
from  the  stake. 

But  it  was  a  precarious  time  for  Post  himself. 
"We  were  warned  not  to  go  far  from  the  house," 
he  says,  ' '  because  the  people  who  came  from  the 
slaughter,  having  been  driven  back,  were  possessed 
with  a  murdering  spirit,  which  led  them  as  in  a 
halter  in  which  they  were  catched,  and  with  bloody 
vengeance  were  thirsty  and  drunk."  In  the  after- 
noon of  the  twentieth,  all  the  chiefs  to  the  number  of 
sixteen  met  in  council,  and  sent  for  Post,  that  they 
might  hear  his  message.  They  received  it  with  great 
satisfaction.  Later  in  the  day  runners  came  in  from 
Fort  Duquesne  with  a  string  of  wampum  and  a  mes- 
sage from  the  French  king.  "My  children,"  said 
he,  "come  to  me,  and  hear  what  I  have  to  say. 


post's  sfxond  mission. 


179 


The  English  are  coming  with  an  army  to  destroy 
both  you  and  me.  I  therefore  desire  you  immedi- 
ately, my  children,  to  hasten  with  all  the  young  men  ; 
we  will  drive  the  English  and  destroy  them."  On 
the  twenty-second  word  was  brought  that  Forbes 
was  within  fifteen  miles  of  Fort  Duquesne.  This  so 
pleased  the  Indians  that  they  danced  around  the  fire 
until  midnight.  On  the  twenty-fourth,  Post  put  up 
the  English  flag,  in  spite  of  the  French  officer  who 
was  present.  That  same  day  King  Beaver  came 
home,  and  received  Post  in  a  very  friendly  manner. 
"  As  soon  as  I  heard  of  your  coming,"  said  he,  "I 
rose  up  directly  to  come  to  you.  It  pleaseth  me  to 
hear  that  you  brought  such  good  nev/s,  and  my 
heart  rejoices  already  at  what  you  said  to  me." 
"  Brother,"  replied  Post,  "you  did  well  that  you 
first  came  here  before  you  went  to  the  kings,  as  the 
good  news  wc  brought  is  to  all  nations,  from,  the 
rising  of  the  sun  to  the  going  down  of  the  same, 
that  want  to  be  in  peace  and  friendship  with  the 
English."  The  next  day  Shingiss  returned,  and 
welcomed  Post.  A  council  was  summoned,  at  which 
about  fifty  warriors  were  present.  King  Beaver 
spoke  first.  "Hearken,  all  you  captains  and  war- 
riors," said  he,  "here  are  our  brethren,  the  English. 
I  wish    that    you    may  give    attention,  and    take 


i8o 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


notice  of  what  they  say,  as  it  is  for  our  good  that  there 
may  an  everlasting  peace  be  established.  Although 
there  is  a  great  deal  of  mischief  done,  if  it  pleaseth 
God  to  let  us,  we  may  live  in  peace  again."  After 
some  further  preliminary  speech-making.  Post  deliv- 
ered his  message  from  Governor  Denny  and  General 
Forbes. 

"If  you  are  in   earnest  to  be  reconciled  to  us," 

said  the  governor,  "you  will  keep  your  young  men 
from  attacking  our  country,  and  killing  and  carrying 
captive  our  back  inhabitants,  and  will  likev/ise  give 
orders  that  your  people  may  be  kept  at  a  distance 
from  Fort  Duquesne,  that  they  may  not  be  hurt  by 
our  warriors,  who  are  sent  by  our  king  to  chastise 
the  French,  and  not  to  hurt  you.  Consider  the  com- 
manding officer  of  that  army  treads  heavy,  and  would 
be  very  sorry  to  hurt  any  of  his  Indian  brethren. 
The  chiefs  of  the  United  Nations,  with  their  cousins, 
our  brethren  the  Delawares,  and  others  now  here, 
jointly  with  me  send  this  belt,  which  has  upon  it  two 
figures  that  represent  all  the  English  and  all  the  In- 
dians now  present  taking  hands,  and  delivering  it  to 
Pisquetumen ;  and  we  desire  it  may  be  likewise  sent 
to  the  Indians  who  are  named  at  the  end  of  these 
messages,  as  they  have  all  been  formerly  our  very 
good  friends  and  allies,  and  we  desire  they  will  all  go 


post's  second  mission. 


i8i 


from  among  the  French  to  their  own  towns,  and  no 
longer  help  the  French. 

* '  Brethren  on  the  Ohio,  if  you  take  the  belts  we 
just  now  gave  you,  in  which  all  here  join,  English 
and  Indians,  as  we  do  not  doubt  you  will,  then,  by 
this  belt,  I  make  a  road  for  you  and  invite  you  to 
come  to  Philadelphia  to  your  first  old  council-fire, 
which  was  kindled  when  we  first  saw  one  another — 
which  fire  we  wjU  kindle  up  again,  and  remove  all 
disputes,  and  renew  the  old  and  first  treaties  of 
friendship.  This  is  a  clear  and  open  road  for  you ; 
fear,  therefore,  nothing,  and  come  to  us  with  as 
many  as  can  be  of  the  Delawares,  Shav/anese,  or  of 
the  Six  Nations,  We  will  be  glad  to  see  you ;  we 
desire  all  tribes  and  nations  of  Indians,  who  are  in 
alliance  \vith  you,  may  come.  As  soon  as  we  hear 
of  yc<...  coming,  of  which  you  will  give  us  timely 
notice,  we  will  lay  up  provisions  for  you  along  the 
road." 

"I  am  glad  to  find  that  all  past  disputes  and  ani- 
mosities are  now  finally  settled  and  amicably  ad- 
justed," said  General  Forbes,  *'and  I  hope  they 
will  be  forever  buried  in  oblivion^  and  that  you  will 
now  again  be  firmly  united  in  the  interest  of  your 
brethren,  the  English.  As  I  am  now  advancing  at 
the  head  of  a  large  army  against  his  Majesty's  ene- 


.i| 


l82 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


mies,  the  French,  on  the  Ohio,  I  must  strongly  rec- 
ommend to  you  to  send  immediate  notice  to  any 
of  your  people  who  may  be  at  the  French  fort,  to 
return  forthwith  to  your  towns,  where  you  may 
sit  by  your  fires  with  your  wives  and  children, 
quiet^  and  undisturbed,  and  smoke  your  pipes  in 
safety.  Let  the  French  fight  their  own  battles,  as 
they  were  the  first  cause  of  the  war  and  the  occasion 
of  the  long  difference  which  hath  subsisted  between 
you  and  your  brethren,  the  English ;  but  I  must  en- 
treat you  to  restrain  your  young  men  from  crossing 
the  Ohio,  as  it  will  be  impossible  for  me  to  distin- 
guish them  from  our  enemies.  This  advice  take  and 
keep  in  your  own  breasts,  and  suffer  it  not  to  reach  the 
ears  of  the  French." 

Notwithstanding  this  request  of  Forbes,  the  French 
officer  at  Kushkushking  was  present  at  the  council. 
Post  had  objected  to  his  being  admitted ;  but  King 
Beaver  and  Shingiss  had  desired  him  to  be  present. 
There  was  no  longer  need  to  keep  the  secret  from 
the  French,  for,  as  they  said,  the  "French  were 
beaten  already."  And  so  they  were.  That  very 
day  they  had  fled  from,  the  ruins  of  Fort  Du- 
quesne,  and  Forbes'  army  had  taken  possession  of 
the  place. 

The  messages  gave  great  satisfaction  to  all  except 


ngly  rec- 
;  to  any 
li  fort,  to 
''ou  may 
children, 
pipes  in 
attles,  as 
occasion 
between 
must  en- 
crossing 
o  distin- 
take  and 
each  the 

?  French 
council, 
ut  King 
present, 
ret  from 
:h  were 
lat  very 
ort  Du- 
ssion  of 

except 


post's  second  mission. 


183 


the  French  captain.  **  He  shook  his  head  with  bit- 
ter grief,  and  often  changed  his  countenance." 
Things  went  along  smoothly.  **  We  ended  this  day," 
says  Post,  "with  pleasure  and  great  satisfaction  on 
both  sides."  But  the  matter  in  hand  was  important, 
and  the  Indian  never  hurries  important  business. 
There  were  several  knotty  points  to  be  arranged. 
Kedeuscund,  one  of  the  chief  counsellors,  informed 
Post  that  "  all  the  nations  had  jointly  agreed  to  de- 
fend their  hunting  place  at  Allegheny,  and  suffer  no- 
body to  settle  there ;  and  as  these  Indians  are  very 
much  inclined  to  the  English  interest,  so  he  begged 
us  very  much  to  tell  the  governor,  the  general,  and 
all  other  people  not  to  settle  there.  And  if  the 
English  would  draw  back  over  the  mountain,  they 
would  get  all  the  other  nations  into  tiieir  interest ; 
but  if  they  stayed  and  settled  there,  all  the  other  na- 
tions would  be  against  them  ;  and  he  was  afraid  it 
would  be  a  great  war,  and  never  come  to  a  peace 
again. "  But  all  points  were  at  length  arranged  in  a  man- 
ner satisfactory  to  the  red  men.  On  the  twenty-eighth, 
King  Beaver  arose  early,  before  day,  and  desired  his 
people  to  rise  and  prepare  breakfast,  "  for  they  had 
to  answer  their  brethren,  the  English,  and  their 
uncles,  and  therefore  they  should  be  in  a  good  humor 
and  disposition."     At  10  o'clock  they  met  together, 


iti 


t  m 

ii 
( f-\>  I 


EBSMMsra*":.' 


*m 


J  84 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


and  King  Beaver  said:  "Take  notice,  all  you  young 
nmen  and  warriors,  to  what  we  answer  now.  It  is 
three  days  since  we  heard  our  brethren,  the  English, 
and  our  uncles  * ;  and  what  we  h^ive  heard  of  both  is 
very  good ;  and  we  are  all  much  pleased  with  what 
we  have  heard.  Our  uncles  have  made  an  agreement, 
and  peace  is  established  with  our  brethren,  the  Eng- 
lish, and  they  have  shook  hands  with  them  ;  and  we 
likewise  agree  in  the  peace  and  friendship  they  have 
established  between  them." 

Having  so  well  succeeded  in  his  mission,  on  the 
second  day  of  December,  Post  and  his  party  set  out 
for  Fort  Duquesne.  They  passed  through  Logstown, 
and  lodged  for  the  night  on  a  hill  in  the  open  air, 
eight  miles  from  Pittsburg.  All  the  Sliawanese  towns 
between  Sawkunk  and  Pittsburg  had  been  deserted 
by  their  inhabitants,  A  number  of  Indians  accom- 
panied Post,  They  arrived  opposite  Pittsburg  early 
on  the  third  of  December,  but  as  there  were  no  boats 
they  had  no  means  of  crossing  the  Allegheny  river. 
The  Indians  at  length  found  a  small  raft  hid  among 
some  bushes,  and  upon  this  Mr.  Hays  with  two  Indi- 
ans crossed  over.  The  next  day  about  noon  Mr. 
Hay3  returned  with  a  raft,  upon  which  the  Indian 
chiefs  went  over  to  the  Tort.     Upon  their  arrival, 

♦  The  Six  Nations. 


--j^ 


POST'S  SECOND  MISSION. 


i8s 


young 
It  is 
^^nglish, 
both  is 
th  what 
cement, 
le  Eng- 
and  we 
2y  have 


F 


on  the 
set  out 
stown, 
)en  air, 
e  towns 
deserted 
accom- 
g  early 
o  boats 
river, 
among 
o  Indi- 
an Mr. 
Indian 
irrivai, 


Colonel  Bouquet  called  a  council,  in  which  the  ques- 
tion of  allowing  the  British  garrison  to  occupy  the 
place  was  discussed.  Post  was  not  at  the  council,  as 
he  did  not  get  over  the  river  until  the  meeting  was 
about  ended.  Post  inquired  of  King  Beaver,  Shingir>s, 
and  Kedeuscund,  what  they  had  concluded  to  do  in 
the  matter.  The  chiefs  replied  :  '  *  We  have  told  them 
three  times  to  leave  the  place  and  go  back  ;  but  they 
insist  on  staying  here ;  if,  therefore,  they  will  be  de- 
stroyed by  the  French  and  Indians,  we  cannot  help 
them."  In  the  report  of  the  conference  itself,  King 
Beaver,  speaking  for  the  chiefs,  is  represented  as  say- 
ing: "We  gave  it  as  our  opinion  that  when  the  general 
had  driven  the  French  av/ay  from  this  place,  that  he 
should  take  his  men  away  over  the  great  mountain, 
till  we  had  driven  the  French  away  out  of  our  country, 
then  to  come  and  build  a  trading  house  here ;  but, 
brother,  as  you  tell  us  the  general  has  left  two  hun- 
dred men  here  to  support  and  defend  the  traders,  you 
will  send  to  trade  with  us,  we  assure  you  it  is  agreeable 
to  us,  and  we  will  give  them  all  the  assistance  we  can." 
These  stories  are  contradictory,  but  we  incline  to 
think  that  that  which  the  Indians  told  Post  is  the  true 
version  ;  for  a  month  later,  at  a  council  held  by  Col- 
onel Hugh  Mercer,  the  commandant  at  Fort  Pitt, 
with  a  delegation  of  chiefs  from   up  the  Allegheny 


^> 


h  '.aJ^ 


.0^.  ^.^i 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


1.0     SIM  IM 


I.I 


11.25 


«    H^    11112.0 


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1.6 


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o 


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V 


l^ 


&< 


^ir 


i86 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


river,  he  attempts  to  apologize  for  the  presence  of 
the  British  garrison.  "Our  great  man's  words  are 
true,"  said  Colonel  Mercer  ;  "as  soon  as  the  French 
are  gone,  he  will  make  a  treaty  with  all  the  Indians, 
and  then  go  home ;  but  the  French  are  still  here. 
Our  great  man  has  ordered  me  to  stay  here  ;  if  the 
French  should  come,  I  will  be  strong  and  make  them 
run  away  once  more." 

On  the  sixth  of  December,  Post  set  out  from 
Pittsburg,  and  arrived  at  Fort  Ligonier  in  the  after- 
noon of  the  eighth.  Here  he  found  General  Forbes, 
to  whom  he  made  his  report.  The  general  was  very 
'11,  and  was  scarcely  able  to  see  him.  He  remained 
at  Fort  Ligonier  until  the  twenty-seventh,  when  he 
departed  with  General  Forbes  and  his  escort  for  the 
east.  He  continued  with  the  general's  company 
until  the  eighth  of  January,  when  he  "  begged  the 
general  for  leave  to  go  to  Lancaster,"  They  were 
then  at  Carlisle.  Permission  to  go  was  granted, 
and  on  the  tenth;  in  the  afternoon,  Post  arrived  in 
Lancaster,  "and  v/as  quite  refreshed,"  he  says,  "to 
have  the  favor  to  see  my  brethren." 


THE  STOLEN  PLATE. 


187 


)ence  of 
Drds  are 

French 
Indians, 
ill  here. 

;  if  the 
ke  them 

ut  from 
le  after- 
Forbes, 
^as  very 
imained 
i^hen  he 
:  for  the 
Dmpany 
jed  the 
iy  were 
granted, 
•ived  in 
/s,  ''to 


THE  STOLEN  PLATE. 

Celoron,  upon  setting  out  on  his  trip  through 
the  Ohio  valley,  was  provided  with  at  least  seven 
leaden  plates.  We  do  not  know  that  he  had  any 
more.  They  were  about  eleven  inches  long,  seven 
and  a  half  inches  wide,  and  one-eighth  of  an  inch 
thick.  They  all  bore  the  same  inscription,  the 
letters  stamped  in  capitals,  with  blanks  in  which  to 
inscribe  such  names  of  places  and  such  dates  as 
should  be  necessary.  The  first  of  the  leaden  plates 
which  they  prepared  to  deposit  was  spoiled  by  insert- 
ing the  name  Chautauqua  instead  of  Conewango, 
This  plate,  sometime  afterwards,  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  English.     It  bore  the  following  inscription  : 

In  the  year  1749,  during  the  reign  of  Louis  XV. ,  king  ot  France,  we, 
Celoron,  commander  of  a  detachment  sent  by  the  Marquis  de  la  Gallis- 
soniere,  cc-nmander-in-chief  of  New  France,  lo  restore  tranquility  in 
some  savage  villages  of  these  districts,  have  buried  this  plate  at  the  con- 
fluence of  the  Ohio  and  Tcha-da-koin,*  this  twenty-ninth  of  July,  near  the 

•  Chauta.uqua,  formerly  written  also  Chatacoin,  Jadachque,  etc.,  etc. 


i;rt' 


Hi' 


pp 


^■■^Tr- 


i88 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


1 

'1 

•I 

il 
If 
'? 

i 

1 

h 

n 

t 

River  Ohio,  alias  "Beautiful  River,"  as  a  monument  of  our  having  retaken 
possession  of  the  said  River  Ohio  and  of  those  that  fall  into  the  same, 
and  of  all  the  lands  on  both  sides  as  far  as  the  sources  of  the  said  rivers, 
as  well  as  of  those  of  which  preceding  kings  of  France  have  enjoyed 
possession,  partly  by  the  force  of  arms,  partly  by  treaties,  especially  by 
those  of  Ryswick,  Utrecht,  and  Aix-la-Chapelle.* 

In  December,  1750,  this  plate  was  dtlivered  to 
Colonel  William  Johnson,  at  his  residence  on  the 
Mohawk,  by  an  Indian  chief,  and  shortly  afterwards 
it  was  sent  to  Governor  George  Clinton,  of  New 
York.  The  Indians  represented  that  they  had  stolen 
the  plate  from  Joncaire,  one  of  Celoron's  officers,  at 
Niagara,  "when  on  his  way  to  the  River  Ohio."  f 
This  story,  however,  is  quite  improbable.  Let  us 
examine  it. 

It  was  the  fifteenth  of  June  that  the  expedition  set 
out  from  La  Chine.  On  the  sixth  of  July  they 
reached  Niagara,  and  on  the  sixteenth  of  the  same 
month  they  arrived  at  the  point  on  the  shore  of  Lake 
Erie  where  they  turned  southward.  After  a  very 
tedious  and  toilsome  passage,  they  arrived  about 
noon,  July  29,  at  the  confluence  of  the  Conewango 
and  Allegheny.  Here  they  determined  to  deposit 
the  first  plate;  but  in  filling  in  the  names  the  name 

*  This  is  the  translation  of  the  inscription  as  we  find  it  in  the  Colonial 
/Records  of  Pennsylvanuj,  Vol.  V.  p.  510. 

t  Governor  Clinton  to  Lords  of  Trade,  Dec.  19,  1750. 


THE  STOLEN  PLATE. 


189 


Tcha-da-koin  was  erroneously  inserted  in  the  place  of 
Conewango.  It  was  such  an  error  as,  under  the  cir- 
cumstances, might  easily  occur.  The  party  had  only 
recently  navigated  both  streams,  and  in  the  mind  of 
the  artist  both  names  were  present,  and  he  inadvert- 
ently inserted  the  wrong  name.  The  error,  we  may 
believe,  was  quickly  detected,  perhaps  by  the  keen 
eye  of  Celoron  himself.  The  plate  was  spoiled,  and 
was  thrown  aside  as  useless.  Another  plate  was  at 
once  prepared,  and  buried  '  *  at  the  foot  of  a  red  oak, " 
as  Celoron  has  recorded  it,  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
Allegheny,  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Conewango. 
This  latter  plate  has  never  been  found.  Celoron's 
party  likely  remained  here  until  the  next  day,  when 
they  proceeded  on  their  way  down  the  Allegheny. 
Some  months  afterwards,  we  will  suppose,  some 
straggling  Indians  passing  the  spot  where  Celoron 
had  encamped,  found  the  plate  that  had  been  thrown 
aside,  and  carried  it  off.  Such  we  believe  to  be  the 
true  history  of  the  affair.  That  the  Indians  stole  the 
plate  from  Joncaire,  at  Niagara,  we  think  altogether 
unlikely,  for  the  following  reasons : 

First,  the  mere   improbability  of  the  thing.     The 
Indians  who  were  in  Celoron's  party,  or  who  were  in 
league  with  the  French,  would  not  likely  steal  it ;  in 
the  first  place,  because  it  was  a  thing  that  would  be 


F  !'■ 


Ui 


1: 


¥f 


^imr 


190 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


of  little  value  to  them  if  they  had  it ;  and  because  to 
steal  it  would  have  been  such  a  breach  of  trust  and 
friendship  as  they  would  not  have  been  guilty  of. 
Other  Indians  than  those  above  specified  would  have 
no  opportunity  to  steal  it ;  besides  tney  were  alarmed 
by  the  expedition  and  kept  aloof  from  it  as  much  as 
possible ;  in  fact,  they  generally,  as  we  have  seen  from 
the  history  of  the  expedition,  fled  at  the  approach 
of  the  French.  They  certainly  showed  no  disposi- 
tion to  loiter  about  and  pilfer  from  the  French  camp. 

Secondly,  the  Indians  who  brought  the  plate  to 
Colonel  Johnson  were  very  much  exercised  over  it, 
and  very  anxious  to  know  the  meaning  of  "  the  dev- 
ilish writing,"  as  they  called  it,  on  the  plate.  Now, 
it  is  inconceivable  if  they  were  in  such  a  frame  of 
mind  they  would  have  retained  the  plate  in  their 
possession  for  nearly  eighteen  months  before  at- 
tempting to  learn  the  meaning  of  it.  It  is  very 
much  more  likely  that  they  did  not  have  the  plate 
long  in  their  possession,  but  hastened  off  with  it  to 
Colonel  Johnson,  the  agent  of  the  English  among 
the  Indians,  to  have  the  matter  explained.  We  in- 
fer, therefore,  that  the  plate  was  not  found  until  the 
latter  part  of  the  year  1750,  or  more  than  a  year 
after  it  had  been  thrown  aside  by  the  French. 

In  the  third  place,  so  far  back  as  the  sixth  of  July, 


TJiE  STOLEN  PLATE. 


191 


when  the  expedition  was  at  Niagara,  they  could  not 
certainly  have  known  that  they  would  be  on  the 
bank  of  the  Allegheny  river,  and  prepared  to  de- 
posit the  leaden  plate  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  July. 
They  had  not  been  over  the  route  before.  Their 
way  was  beset  with  difficulties  and  dangers.  Their 
progress  was  evidently  much  slower  than  they  hud 
anticipated.  They  could  not  predict  with  certainty 
that  they  would  arrive  there  on  the  twenty-ninth  of 
the  month,  and  not  on  the  twenty-fifth  or  the  twenty- 
seventh,  or  any  other  particular  day,  and  hence  it 
would  not  occur  to  them  to  insert  a  specific  date,  so 
long  before,  and  at  a  distance  so  remote,  in  a  leaden 
plate,  which  they  would  know  could  not  be  changed 
if  the  facts  in  the  case  should  afterwards  require  it. 
This  consideration  alone,  we  think,  amounts  to  a 
moral  demonstration  that  the  plate  had  not  been 
stolen,  as  reported  by  the  Indians. 

But  the  question  may  arise,  why  should  they  say 
they  had  obtained  it  in  this  way  if  they  did  not  ? 
We  can  only  answer  that  possibly  the  Indians  who 
first  came  in  possession  of  the  plate,  did  not  so  re- 
port. It  may  have  been  several  weeks  in  reaching 
Colonel  Johnson,  and  it  may  have  passed  through 
many  hands  while  in  transitu  ;  and  as  there  was  no 
written  record  of  the  manner  in  which  it  had  been 


r.igr;  .^^mg 

'< 

i 

t'^SH 

i 

i 

■ ''.  :i 

i 

1 

192 


THE  FRENCH  IN  THE  ALLEGHENY  VALLEY. 


obtained,  the  true  accouRc  may  have  been  lost  or 
perverted  in  the  meantime.  In  short,  it  may  have 
been  only  a  variation  of  the  old  story  of  "  The  Three 
Black  Crows."  Or  otherwise,  while  it  may  not  be 
necessary  to  assume  that  the  Indian  is  abnormally 
untruthful,  yet,  under  certain  circumstances,  he  may 
so  far  resemble  his  white  brother  as  to  be  led  into  a 
misstatement  of  a  fact,  if  he  believed  that  the  result 
would  somehow  redound  to  his  own  glorification  or 
advantage.  To  the  mind  of  the  savage  it  might 
have  seemed  much  more  in  keeping  with  the  charac- 
ter of  an  Indian  brave  to  steal  the  plate  from  an  en- 
emy, or  to  procure  it  "by  some  artifice,"  as  they  re- 
ported it  to  Colonel  Johnson,  than  to  obtain  it  in  any 
such  simple,  matter-of-fact  way  as  picking  it  up  from 
where  some  one  had  thrown  it. 

Why  they  should  represent  that  they  had  stolen 
the  plate  from  Joncaire,  rather  than  any  one  else, 
may  not  be  a  difficult  question  to  answer.  Joncaire 
was  well  known  to  the  Indians  of  Canada  and  New 
York.  He  was  a  brave,  resolute,  enterprising  man 
He  understood  the  language  of  the  natives  perfectly, 
and  had  great  influence  among  them.  He,  no  d-^ubt, 
had  charge  of  the  Indians  attached  to  the  party.  An 
effort  had  been  made  to  enlist  a  larger  Indian  contin- 


THE  STOLEN  PLATE. 


193 


gent,  of  which  he  was  to  have  had  the  command,* 
but  it  was  not  successful.  The  other  French  officers 
were,  perhaps,  unknown,  or  but  little  known,  to  the 
tribes  of  western  New  York.  Joncaire,  as  we  have 
seen,  was  well  known,  and  to  their  minds  represented 
the  expedition.  To  say,  therefore,  that  they  had 
stolen  the  plate  from  Joncaire  was  equivalent  to  say- 
ing they  had  stolen  it  from  the  French. 

From  the  foregomg  considerations  we  are  led  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  leaden  plate  was  not  stolen 
from  Joncaire,  at  Niagara,  in  July,  1749.  but  was 
found  at  the  mouth  of  the  Conewango  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  year  1750. 


-V    , 


I 


•'*: 


f 


*  See  Letter  of  Governor  Clinton  to  Governor  Ham' 
in  Penn.ylvania  Archives,  Volume  II.  page  32. 


,  July  24,  1749. 


I 


m 


■|  vlf! 


i, '.'  '••' 


Early  Virginia  Claims  in 
Pennsylvania. 


% 


w^^ 


UU'^i 


Hill 


EARLY  VIRGINIA  CLAIMS  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 


197 


EARLY  VIRGINIA  CLAIMS  IN  PENNSYL- 
VANIA. 

The  early  inhabitants  of  Pennsylvania  seem  to 
have  been  doomed  to  trouble.  Besides  the  Connect- 
icut claims,  vv^hich  took  in  almost  the  entire  northern 
half  of  the  province,  Virginia  laid  claim  to  a  large 
portion  of  the  western  part.  The  origin  of  this 
claim  dates  very  far  back  in  the  history  of  the  coun- 
try. 

The  charter  of  1 607  granted  to  the  London  Company 
all  the  territory  in  America  lying  between  the  thirty- 
fourth  and  thirty-eighth  degrees  of  north  latitude.* 
In  1609  the  charter  was  amended  and  enlarged,  so 
that  it  comprised  a  region  stretching  two  hundred  miles 
north  and  the  same  distance  south  of  Point  Comfort,  and 
extending  "  up  into  the  land  throughout,  from  sea 
to  sea,  west  and  northwest."     In   1623  the  London 

•  Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  I.  p.  120. 


w 


198 


EARLY  VIRGINIA  CLAIMS  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 


Si       i 


Company  was  dissolved  by  a  decree  of  the  King's 
bench,  and  the  territory  above  described,  except 
where  grants  had  been  made  to  private  individuals, 
reverted  to  the  crown.  But  the  Virginians  never 
fully  accepted  this  decision.  Fenn's  grant  was  re- 
spected ;  but  any  other  territory  within  the  limits 
of  their  charter  they  continued  to  claim,  notwith- 
standing the  action  of  the  King's  Bench.  To  ex- 
plore and  occupy  this  vast  domain  was  one  of  the 
most  fascinating  objects  to  the  early  Virginians.*  It 
was  to  vindicate  their  claim  to  the  valley  of  the  Ohio 
that  the  youthful  Major  Washington  was  sent  to  the 
French  posts  in  1753.  The  authorities  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, however,  now  began  to  contend  that  the 
claims  of  Virginia  overlapped  the  charter  granted  to 
William  Penn,  and  some  correspondence  on  the  sub- 
ject took  place  between  Governor  Dinwiddie,  of 
Virginia,  and  Go'  Tor  Hamilton,  of  Pennsylvania, 
in  the  years  1752  ^nd  1753, 

In  the  early  part  of  the  year  1754,  the  Virginians 
undertook  to  secure  possession  of  the  country  about 
the  forks  of  the  Ohio  against  the  common  enemy, 
the  French,  by  building  a  fort  on  the  point  of  land 
where  the  city  of  Pittsburg  now  stands ;  bui  the 
la*;ter,  under  Contrecoeur,  descended  the  Allegheny, 


N 


*  See  "  ihe  Knights  of  the  Horseshoe,"  by  Dr.  Wm.  A.  Caruthers. 


[A. 


EARLY  VIRGINIA  CLAIMS  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 


199 


e  King's 
,  except 
lividuals, 
ns  never 

was  re- 
fie  limits 
notwith- 

To  ex- 
e  of  the 
ns,*  It 
the  Ohio 
It  to  the 
Pennsyl- 
that  the 
anted  to 
the  sub- 
idie,  of 
ylvania, 

irginians 
y  about 
enemy, 
of  land 
but  the 
legheny, 


drove  them  away  from  the  unfinished  work,  and 
themselves  built  a  stronghold  at  the  same  place, 
which  they  called  Fort  Duquesne.  The  disputed 
territory  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  French  until 
the  fall  of  Fort  Duquesne,  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
year  1758.  No  revival  of  the  dispute  took  place 
until  January,  1774,  when  one  Dr.  John  Conolly, 
whom  Bancroft  describes  as  "a  physician, land-jobber, 
and  subservient  political  intriguer,"  came  from  Vir- 
ginia with  authority  from  Lord  Dunmore,  the  gover- 
nor of  that  colony,  and  took  possession  of  Fort  Pitt, 
which  had  been  dismantled  by  the  British  govern- 
ment, and  named  it  Fort  Dunmore.  He  also  issued 
a  call  to  the  public  to  assemble  as  a  militia  at 
Pittsburg.*  For  this  conduct  he  was  apprehended 
by  Arthur  St.  Clair,  a  magistrate  of  Westmoreland 
county,  afterwards  a  distinguished  officer  of  the 
Revolutionary  and  Indian  wars,  and  thrown  into  jail 
at  Hannastown.  He  was  not  held  in  durance  long, 
however,  but  was  released  on  bail  and  returned  to 
Virginia.  Here  he  was  appointed  by  Dunmore  a 
justice  of  Augusta  county,  which  the  Virginians  con- 
tended embraced  the  territory  in  debate,  and  shortly 
returned  to  Pittsburg  with  a  tolerably  strong  force. 
He  captured  the  court  at  Hannastown   and  at  Pitts- 


ruthers. 


•Colonial  Records  of  Penn.,Vol.  X.  p.  141. 


.^  r 


200 


EARLY  VIRGINIA  CLAIMS  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 


\m 


burg,  on  the  ninth  of  April,  1774,  and  arrested  the 
justices  ^neas  Mackay.Devereux  Smith,  and  Andrew 
McFarlane,  and  sent  them  prisoners  to  Staunton, 
Virginia.* 

Conolly's  high-handed  proceedings  called  out  a 
letter  from  Governor  John  Penn  to  Lord  Dunmore, 
in  which  he  points  attention  to  the  performances  of 
Conolly,  and,  after  complimenting  his  lordship  by 
assuring  him  that  he  understands  his  character  too 
well  to  admit  the  least  idea  that  he  '*  would  counte- 
nance a  measure  injurious  to  the  rights  of  the  Pro- 
prietaries of  Pennsylvania,  or  which  might  have  a 
tendency  to  raise  disturbances  within  the  Province,'" 
he  proceeds  to  describe  the  boundaries  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. "The  western  extent  of  the  Provmce  of 
Pennsylvania,"  he   says,  "by  the  royal  grant  is 'five 

degrees  of  longitude  from  the  river  Delaware,  which 
is  its  eastern  boundary."  From  the  two  hundred  and 
thirty-third  milestone  on  the  line  run  by  Mason  and 
Dixon,  he  continues,  "a  north  line  hath  been  since 
carefully  run  and  measured  to  the  Ohio,  and  from 
thence  up  to  Fort  Pitt,"  etc.  From  the  various  data, 
he  says,  "the  most  exact  calculations  have  been 
made  by  Dr.  Smith,  provost  of  our  college,  Mr.  Rit- 
tenhouse,  and  our  surveyor-general,  in  order  to  ascer- 

•  Col.  Rec,  Vol.  X.  p.  169. 


ANIA. 

arrested  the 
ind  Andrew 
0  Staunton, 

railed  out  a 
i  Dunmore, 
brmances  of 

lordship  by 
:haracter  too 
^ould  counte- 
5  of  the  Pro- 
night  have  a 
;he  Province," 
;  of  Pennsyl- 
Province  of 
,1  grant  is  'five 
la  ware,  which 
)  hundred  and 
by  Mason  and 
ith  been   since 
ihio,  and  from 
e  various  data, 
ns   have   been 
liege,  Mr.  Rit- 

order  to  ascer- 


EARLY  VIRGINIA  CLAIMS  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 


20I 


tain  the  difference  of  longitude  between  Delaware 
and  Pittsburg,  who  all  agree  that  the  latter  is  near 
six  miles  eastward  of  the  western  extent  of  the  Pro- 
vince." He  adds  that  if  his  lordship  should  still 
entertain  any  doubt  respecting  the  matter,  he  hopes 
he  will  "  defer  the  appointing  of  officers,  and  exer- 
cising government  in  that  neighborhood,  and  suffer 
the  people  to  remain  in  the  quiet  and  undisturbed 
possession  of  the  lands  they  hold  under  this  Pro- 
vince," until  some  temporary  line  of  jurisdiction  can 
be  agreed  on,  or  until  the  "affair  can  be  settled  by 
His  Majesty  in  Council."! 

To  this  reasonable  letter  Dunmore  made  answer 
March  5,  1774,  in  which  he  contravenes  the  opinion 
of  Governor  Penn  with  respect  to  the  boundaries  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  adds,  "  In  conformity  to  these  sen- 
timents, you  will  easily  see  I  cannot  possibly,  in  com- 
pHance  with  your  request,  either  revoke  the  commis- 
sions and  appointments  already  made,  or  defer  the 
appointment  of  such  other  officers  as  I  may  find  nec- 
essary for  the  good  government  of  that  part  of  the 
country,  which  we  cannot  but  consider  to  be  within 
the  Dominion  of  Virginia,  until  His  Majesty  shall 
declare  the  contrary."  His  lordship  also  resents  the 
arrest   and   commitment   of  Conolly,  and   demands 

:|:  Col.  Kec,  Vol.  X.  p.  149. 


"M^MT 


Pif: 


202 


EARLY  VIRGINIA  CLAIMS  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 


the  dismission  of  St.  Clair,  "who  had  the  audacity, 
without  any  authority,  to  commit  a  magistrate  act- 
ing in  the  legal  discharge  of  his  trust;"  unless,  in- 
deed, Mr.  St.  Clair  can  prevail  by  proper  "submis- 
sion," on  Mr.  Conolly,  "to  demand  his  pardon  of 
me."*  To  this,  on  the  thirty-first  of  March,  Gov- 
ernor Penn  replies  in  a  long  letter,  in  which  he  re- 
capitulates the  history  of  the  claim,  etc.,  from  the 
beginning.  He  declines,  however,  to  dismiss  Mr. 
St.  Clair  from  his  office ;  and  as  it  does  not  appear 
that  the  latter  ever  attempted  to  make  any  ' '  sub- 
mission "  to  Mr.  Conolly,  it  is  likely  he  died  at  last 
without  the  benefit  of  Governor  Dunmore's  "par- 
don." 

On  the  seventh  of  May,  James  Tilghman  and  An- 
drew Allen  were  appointed  commissioners  on  the 
part  of  Pennsylvania  to  settle  the  question  in  dis- 
r)ute,  and  on  the  nineteenth  of  the  same  month  thev 
reached  Williamsburg,  the  capital  of  Virginia.  At 
a  conference  with  Governor  Dunmore,  he  requested 
them  to  present  their  proposition  "in  writing," 
which  they  did  on  the  twenty-third.  The  substance 
of  the  paper  which  they  submitted  was,  that  a  sur- 
vey of  the  Delaware  River  should  be  made  as  soon 
as  convenient,  by  surveyors  appointed  jointly  by  the 

*Cc!.  Rec,  Vol.  X.  p.  156. 


-.^«^^«^^ 


imiidliillli 


MHIA. 

le  audacity, 
2^istrate  act- 

unless,  in- 
■  "submis- 

pardon  of 
arch,  Gov- 
lich  he  re- 
,  from  the 
ismiss  Mr. 
not  appear 
any  "sub- 
ied  at  last 
re's  "par- 

n  and  An- 
-rs  on  the 
on   in  dis- 
lonth  they 
^inia.     At 
requested 
writing," 
substance 
lat  a  sur- 
e  as  soon 
ly  by  the 


EARLY  VIRGINIA  CLAIMS  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 


203 


two  colonies,  from  the  mouth  of  Christiana  Creek,  or 
near  it,  where  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  intersected 
the  Delaware,  to  a  point  on  the  river  in  the  same 
latitude  as  Pittsburg,  "and  as  much  farther  as  may 
be  needful  for  the  piesent  purpose."  That  Mason 
and  Dixon's  line  should  be  continued  to  the  end  of 
five  degrees  from  the  Delaware,  and  that  from  the 
end  of  that  line  a  line  or  lines  should  be  run  corre- 
sponding in  direction  to  the  courses  of  the  Dela- 
ware, and  drawn  at  every  point  at  the  distance  of  five 

degrees  of  longitude  from  that  river ;  and  that  Mason 
and  Dixon's  line  thus  protracted,  with  the  said  line 

or  lines  "similar  to  the  courses  of  the  Delaware," 
should  be  accepted  by  both  parties  as  the  line  of 
jurisdiction  between  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania,  un- 
til the  boundaries  of  the  latter  province  should  be 
run  and  finally  settled  by  "  royal  authority."  f  This 
proposition  would  have  made  the  western  boundary 
of  Pennsylvania  of  the  same  form  as  the  eastern. 

In  reply  to  this,  Dunmore,  the  next  day,  gave  it 
as  his  view,  that  it  could  not  possibly  have  been  the 
intent  of  the  Crown  that  the  western  boundary  of 
Pennsylvania  "should  have  the  very  inconvenient, 
and  so  difficult  to  be  ascertained  shape,  as  it  would 
have,  if  it  were  to  correspond  with  the  course  of  the 

t  Col.  Rcc,  Vol.  X.  p.  182. 


I^f"*' 


204 


EARLY  VIRGINIA  CLAIMS  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 


1 


river  Delaware."  He  then  proceeds  to  describe  the 
boundaries  of  Pennsylvania  as  he  understands  them  ; 
namely,  on  the  north  by  a  straight  line  from  the 
Delaware  on  the  42d  parallel  westward  five  degrees  ; 
on  the  south  by  a  straight  line  westward  from  the 
circle  drawn  at  the  distance  of  twelve  miles  from  New- 
castle to  a  meridian  line  which  should  pass  through 
the  western  extremity  of  the  northern  boundary 
line;  that  meridian  line  being,  as  he  says,  "the 
limits  of  longitude  mentioned  in  the  royal  grant,  and 
no  other,  as  it  appears  to  me.  "'^  It  is  a  fact  worthy 
of  remark  that  Governor  Penn's  proposition  gave  to 
Virginia  nearly  all  that  she  claimed,  while  Dun- 
more's  gave  to  Pennsylvania  far  more  than  she  de- 
manded ;  the  boundary  lines  as  he  defined  them  be- 
ing almost  if  not  quite  identical  with  those  at  present 
established.  , 

Some  further  discussion  on  the  subject  passed  be- 
tween the  commissioners  and  Governor  Dunmore, 
but  no  agreement  could  be  reached.  With  respect 
to  Fort  Pitt,  Dunmore  absolutely  refused  to  relin- 
quish his  authority  over  that  place  "without  his 
Majesty's  orders,"  and  as  the  end  of  the  controversy 
he  regretted  that  he  could  do  nothing  "to  contribute 
to  reestablish  the  peace  and  harmony  of  both  colo- 


ii' 


Col.  Rec,  Vol.  X.  p.  184. 


^ji^sMHilMtimmmmim 


EARLY  VIRGINIA  CLAIMS  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 


205 


nies,"   and   to   evince   his   good  intentions  as   well 
towards  the  one  as  the  other.* 

Meanwhile  Conolly's  conduct  was  outrageous.  He 
not  only  oppressed  the  people  along  the  border,  but 
stirred  up  a  war  with  the  Indians,  f  who  committed 
great  barbarities.  Governor  Penn  did  all  he  could 
to  conciliate  the  Indians,  but  to  little  purpose.  On 
the  twenty-eighth  of  June  he  wrote  to  Lord  Dun- 
more  deprecating  an  Indian  war,  and  begging  that 
his  lordship  would  join  with  him  in  endeavoring  to 
"prevent  the  further  progress  of  hostilities."  He 
also  complains  bitterly  of  the  "behavior  of  Doctor 
Conolly,"  who,  among  other  acts  of  outrage  and 
lawlessness,  '  'seized  upon  the  property  of  the  people 
without  reserve,  and  treats  the  persons  of  the  magis- 
trates with  the  utmost  insolence  and  disrespect,"  and 
is  about  sending  out  "parties  against  the  Indians, 
with  orders  to  destroy  all  they  meet  with,  whether 
friend  or  foe."|  The  records  of  the  time  are  full  of 
accounts  of  the  "great  confusion  and  distress" 
of  the  inhabitants  of  Westmoreland  county. 
In  June,  John  Montgomery  writes  from  Carlisle 
that    he    had  just    returned    from     Westmoreland 

*    Col.  Rec,  Vol.  X.  p.  190. 
f  Penna.  Archives,  Vol.  IV.  p.  528. 
t  Col.  Rec,  Vol.  X.  p.  193. 


2o6 


EARLY  VIRGINIA  CLAIMS  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 


:*■<  1 


county,     and    that     many     families     were     return- 
ing to  the  eastern  side  of  the  mountains,  while  others 
were   about   "building   forts   in   order   to    make    a 
stand.'*  ^     About  the   same   time,   ^neas    Mackay 
writes  from   Pittsburg  of  * '  the  deplorable   state  of 
affairs "  in  that  region,  and   says,  *  *  We  art  robbed, 
insulted,  and  dragooned  by  Conolly  and  his  militia 
in  this  place  and  its  environs."     F'urther,  he  says, 
"  We  don't  know  what  day  or  hour  we  will  be  at- 
tacked by  our  savage  and  provoked  enemy,  the   In- 
dians, who  have  already   massacred   sixteen  persons 
to    our  certain  knowledge,  "f     Against   these   evils 
the  law  could  furnish  no  protection.     In  February, 
1775,  the  magistrates  addressed  a  statement  to  Gov. 
Penn,  in  which  they  say:  "  Our  difficulties  on  account 
of  the  Conolly  party  are  now  grown  to  an  extreme. 
*    *    *    Any  person  applying  for  justice  to  us,  may 
be  assured  to  be  arrested   by  them.     James  Smith, 
Captain,  was  taken  and  bound  over  to  the  Virginia 
Court,  for  only  applying  to  the  laws  of  Pennsylvania 
for  to  have  a  banditti  of  villains  punished  for  pulling 
down  his  house.  "  |     It  was  in  the  course  of  the  war 
incited  by  Dunmore  and  Conolly  that  the  family  of 

♦  Penna.  Ar  chives,  Vol.  IV.  p,  505. 

f  Penna.  Archives,  Vol.  IV.  p.  517. 
5:  Col.  Rec,  Vol,  X.  p.  234. 


l-^^ltlS 


1^ 


EARLY  VIRGINIA  CLAIMS  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 


207 


Logan,  "the  friend  of  the  white  man,"  were  killed 
at  Captina  and  Yellow  Creek.* 

As  the  difficulties  between  the  colonies  and  the 
mother  country  developed,  Dunmore  and  his  lieuten- 
ant in  mischief  took  strong  sides  against  the  former. 
In  April,  1775,  Dunmore  threatened  to  free  the 
slaves,  and  turn  them  against  their  masters.  This 
threat  caused  great  horror  and  alarm  throughout  the 
South,  but  could  not  stay  the  progress  of  events, 
and  he  himself,  on  the  night  of  June  7th,  1775,  was 
compelled  to  seek  safety  on  board  the  **  Fowey,"  an 
English  man-of  war,  at  York,  and  "  thus  left  the  An- 
cient Dominion  in  the  undisputed  possession  of  its 
own  inhabitants."  f  Conolly  soon  joined  Dunmore 
in  his  place  of  refuge.  The  further  history  of  this 
worthy  pair  is  not  connected  with  our  subject,  and 
we  cheerfully  dismiss  them  from  our  page. 

In  December,  1776,  the  legislature  of  Virginia  pro- 
posed a  line  of  demarcation  a  little  different  from 
either  of  those  that  had  been  already  suggested. 
Their  proposition  was  to  extend  the  boundary  of 
Virginia  northward  from  the  western  extr>emity  of 
the  line  run  by  Mason  and  Dixon  to  the  fortieth  par- 
allel of  north  latitude,  then  due  west  to  the  curved 

♦Doddridge's  Notes,  p.  232. 

t  Bancroft's  Hist.  U.  S.,  Vol.  VII.  p.  386. 


1 


308 


EARLY  VIRGINIA  CLAIMS  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 


line  proposed  by  Governor  Penn.  This  was  not  ac- 
cepted by  the  Pennsylvanians.  In  the  meantime 
matters  continued  in  the  same  unsettled  state  as  be- 
fore— the  inhabitants  of  Westmoreland  county  were 
still  distracted  by  the  controversy,  and  the  common 
cause  of  the  colonies  against  Great  Britain  was  "in- 
jured by  this  jangling."  As  the  years  went  by,  the 
matter  pressed  more  and  more  upon  the  authorities, 
and  it  became  necessary  to  do  something.  Finally, 
in  the  early  part  of  1779,  George  Bryan,  John  Ewing, 
and  David  Rittenhouse,  on  the  part  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  Dr.  James  Madison  and  Robert  Andrews,  on  the 
part  of  Virginia,  were  appointed  commissioners  to 
agree  upon  a  boundary  between  the  States.  They 
met  at  Baltimore  on  the  thirty-first  of  August, 
1779,  ^^^  after  a  thorough  consideration  of  the  sub- 
ject of  debate,  they  agreed  as  follows:  **  To  extend 
Mason  and  Dixon's  line  due  west  five  degrees  of 
longitude,  to.  be  computed  from  the  River  Delaware, 
for  the  southern  boundary  of  Pennsylvania,  and  that 
a  meridian,  drawn  from  the  western  extremity  thereof 
to  the  northern  limit  of  said  state,  be  the  western 
boundary  of  said  state  forever."  *  This  agreement, 
with  some  conditions  which  it  is  not  necessary  to 
specify  here,  was  ratified  and  confirn^d  by  the  legis- 

fCol.  Rec,  Vol.  XII.  p.  213. 


VANIA. 

is  was  not  ac- 
he  meantime 
id  state  as  be- 
d  county  were 
i  the  common 
■itain  was  * '  in- 
•s  went  by,  the 
[he  authorities, 
ling.     Finally, 
m,  John  Ewing, 
,f  Pennsylvania, 
Andrews,  on  the 
)mmissioners  to 
estates.    They 
irst   of  August, 
ition  of  the  sub- 
vs :   * '  To  extend 
five  degrees  of 
River  Delaware, 
ylvania,  and  that 
ixtremity  thereof 
be  the  western 
This  agreement, 
not  necessary  to 
-ird  by  the  legis- 


EARLY  VIRGINIA  CLAIMS  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 


209 


I 


i 


lature  of  Virginia,  June   23,  1780,  and  by  that  of 
Pennsylvania,  September  23,  1780.  * 

In  1782,  commissioners  appointed  by  the  two 
States  interested  ran  the  lines  accordingly,  but  of 
course  it  was  objected  to  by  some  of  the  Virginians, 
who  claimed  that  it  was  only  a  temporary  line.  It 
was  determined  then  to  locate  the  lines  perman- 
ently, and  for  this  purpose,  in  1783,  the  following 
commissioners  were  appointed  :  David  Rittenhouse, 
John  Lukens,  John  Ewing,  and  Captain  Hutchins, 
on  the  part  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Dr.  James  Madi- 
son, Andrew  ElHcott,  Robert  Andrews,  and  T.  Page, 
on  the  part  of  Virginia.  The  lines  were  again  run, 
and  clearly  and  definitely  marked  on  the  ground,  by 
cutting  vistas  through  the  woods,  and  setting  up 
stone  pillars  at  regular  intervals.  This  work  was 
accomplished  in  1784,  and  ended  all  dispute  in  the 
matter. 

*  Penna.  Archives,  Vol.  VIII.  pp.  352,  570. 


THE  END. 


